Since 1979 St. Mark’s has furnished the space and facility free of charge for the local well child clinics and since 1981 the WIC program. Both of these programs affect the health and welfare of many thousands of citizens in Webster County and Fort Dodge who otherwise would not have access to these services. In addition the clinic area has been used to support other adult health clinics from time to time and the Fort Dodge HIV/AIDS Coalition’s counseling, testing, and referral center. Beginning in February 2000 it became the home site for the Free Medical Clinic of Fort Dodge.
Every year more than 14,000 people make visits to this clinic site. These people, while largely from minority and underprivileged groups, also include people from all class and financial categories.
The Well Child Clinics and the WIC Program are funded from federal and state grants. The AIDS coalition also finds funding for their program from federal, state, United Way, and private local sources. The Free Clinics are largely funded by the contributions of the medical community. The building site, heating, air conditioning, water, sewer, and electrical are provided by St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. The routine cleaning of the site is provided by Webster County. There is no rent paid to St. Mark’s by any program using this facility. In the past ten years, St. Mark’s has paid for a handicapped ramp access to the site, new easier to use and energy efficient glass doors, and upgraded the floor covering in the area. In 2000, in conjunction with a major renovation of the entire heating/air-conditioning system in the building, St. Mark’s invested about $45,000 to add a handicapped bathroom, new wiring, and new floor covering for over 50% of the usable space in the area. A clear focus of the renovations of the electrical system of this area was to provide modern and up-to-code wiring for the clinic’s users.
Frank Edmund Latham
1944 - 1999
Frank Edmund Latham was born and raised in Fort Dodge. His father died before Frank was born. Although Frank was baptized as an infant in St. Mark’s, his mother and sister became members of St. Mark’s in 1951. In the early years of his childhood, Frank was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. As a young man he became an alcoholic and this compounded the effects of his diabetes. One thing led to another and eventually Frank was forced to have a heart by-pass operation, which scared him enough to seek help for his alcoholism. He joined AA in Fort Dodge and began a program of recovery. As he assisted his elderly mother to church Frank found a new meaning and emphasis for his spiritual life and he eventually came to know the Lord.
Following his first heart surgery Frank became partially disabled and after his second by-pass surgery he was declared completely disabled. As his recovery continued Frank began to take an interest in the process of finding cures for diabetes and the effects on the body and volunteered for many and various programs of research at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Many times Frank would travel to Iowa City four to five times a month to be poked, prodded, and tested for the effects of this experiment or that.
Living alone and without work Frank came to Fr. Hall and asked if he could look after the church. He recognized that his disability would limit the amount of physical work that he could do, but he could very well see to it that the buildings and grounds were looked after and, in some cases, could perform some of these tasks himself. Fr. Hall, in consultation with the Vestry, agreed and Frank was employed for $90.00 a month, the maximum amount he could earn according to the limitations of his disability programs.
Frank began work in 1993 and there began an exceptional example of the meaning of the gift of time and talent to the church. Almost from the start of his work, the buzz word around here was “Frank will take care of it.” There are literally hundreds of little things that must be attended to by someone that are very critical to the life of an active parish. As many of you who are familiar with churches know, there are many times when a sentence will begin with “someone needs to....” Around here, Frank was the “someone”. He treated his employment here with all the respect that any full-time paid employee might. He asked for vacations, let us know when he would not be here, and showed up with remarkable regularity and filled with amazing dedication. Frequently we would have to counsel him to cut back on his work for he was truly stretching the limits of his health. And, it must be remembered, every step he took resulted in pain to his legs and back due to the effects of his diabetes.
When Frank died on Christmas Day, 1999, this parish suffered a terrible loss. At the Annual Meeting this spring, by unanimous election, the decision was made to name the newly remodeled clinic area in the undercroft after Frank. Frank received the bulk of his health care costs from various government programs. Frank gave a large part of these last years of his life to St. Mark’s. It seemed to us to be a fitting memorial to name our gift to the medical needy of this community in memory of Frank. As the quotation on the plaque in his honor suggests, “you have received without payment, give without payment,” so indeed we at St. Mark’s received without payment the best of the last years of Frank's life. Even so, this gift is given to the medical needs of this community without cost in honor of our friend.
Parish Office:
St. Mark's Episcopal Church
1007 First Avenue South
Fort Dodge, Iowa 50501
ph. 515-576-2019
fax 515-576-0632
