When 53-year old Claire* was diagnosed with diabetes, she felt overwhelmed. Like any newly diagnosed diabetic, she was forced to make major changes in her diet. She also faced having to learn about the complications of diabetes such as kidney failure or blindness and coordinating a new regimen of medications.

But Claire faced an additional problem: she was medically uninsured. The costs of medications, doctor's visits, and diabetic supplies - an average of more than $200 per month - had to come out of pocket. For a person living off $700 a month, the financial burden was more than she could bear.

Fortunately for Claire, a friend told her about Health For All, a clinic dedicated to providing medical care at no cost to low-income, uninsured families in the Brazos Valley. The only clinic of its kind in a 90-mile radius, the clinic relies on more than 80 volunteer doctors and nurses to provide medical care to those in need. In addition to providing Claire with physician consultations and medications, the clinic enrolled her in diabetes education classes and gave her a glucometer for measuring blood glucose levels at home.

Faced with this dilemma, Community-Health Intern Randi Toumbs envisioned a program in which patients could "earn" diabetic supplies through participation in diabetic education programs, exercise groups, and nutrition classes. While the costs of supplies would eventually pass onto the patient's shoulders, the program would provide feedback to patients while simultaneously drawing them into an intensive six-month program that would help them get their disease under control.

"We have hundreds of patients who suffer from diabetes," says Executive Director Margaret Allen. "Current research is indicating that there is a need for better patient education and for enabling patients to be responsible for their own health."

Allowing patients to be responsible for their own health requires costly diabetic supplies that for many years Health For All was unable to provide. While the clinic could access inexpensive medications on behalf of its patients, the cost of providing supplies for each patient to check their blood sugar level just once a day would have raised the clinic budget by 40%.

"It was exciting to put together because there was so much collaboration," says Toumbs. "The pharmacy next door offered to sell us supplies at cost. Dieticians volunteered to give classes, and the School of Rural Public Health at Texas A&M University was willing to help us do an evaluation."

With the program designed, Toumbs turned her attention to finding the funds to make it a reality. Her only tool was a funding search that the clinic had received from the TEES Center for Community Support several months before. Armed with the funding search, Toumbs landed a grant for $14,000 from a local foundation.

"I had never written a grant proposal before," says Toumbs. "I wouldn't have known where to start were it not for the funding search from CCS; it would have been hit and miss. The funding search was extremely helpful because it allowed me to focus my time on foundations that were interested in the type of work we do."