Letter: Health foundation official says article was inaccurate

My name is Jim Gibson. I am a member of the board of directors at the San Benito Health Foundation and have been the treasurer of the foundation for two years. In a recent interview with the Free Lance and, in an editorial that quoted me extensively at a Hollister City Council meeting which I did not attend, I do not feel that my views on the proposed Salud Para La Gente-led federal grant application have been adequately expressed.  With your permission I would like to do so now.
We were established by the federal government to provide health care in San Benito County to the uninsured, the inadequately insured, and the migrant farm worker population. We do have insured clients, we do have clients with medical and Medicare eligibility, and we do charge our clients based on their ability to pay. However huge the gap that exists between what we can collect for our medical and dental services and the dollars we receive for those services is made up for by federal grants which we apply for on an ongoing basis.
The grant that was subject of your editorial is not a health care grant. It is a planning grant. We are not opposed to the city of Hollister receiving it. We have not participated in the application process because it is not our business to chase planning grants. We do, however, have questions and concerns in relation to this planning grant application.
Our question is why is Salud Para La Gente, who operates under the same federal guidelines as we do, helping to acquire federal planning dollars in San Benito County? Our concern is that they will have then established their bona fides as federal grant money applicants in San Benito County and we would expect to see them as direct competitors for grant monies that we need for our continuing operations.
Jim Gibson, Hollister