Partner in Profile: Boehringer Ingelheim

AmeriCares Free Clinics and partner Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. have a track record of improving access to health care in Danbury and surrounding towns. With more than $1 million in committed support, Boehringer Ingelheim has been a strong supporter of AmeriCares medical outreach efforts since 2002.

AmeriCares Free Clinics is pleased to announce Boehringer Ingelheim’s most recent donation of $400,000 for its new Danbury clinic.

The grant, which comes from the Boehringer Ingelheim Cares Foundation, will fund the conversion of a bicycle shop into a fully equipped medical clinic. Located at 76 West Street, the new clinic is expected to open early next year.

AmeriCares Free Clinics Executive Director Karen Gottlieb said the gift allows the clinic to stay within blocks of its current location, serving the same patient population with a seamless transition. As with the current location, patients will be able to access the new facility with public transportation.

“We won’t have any disruption in services for our patients, which is ideal,” Gottlieb said.

In addition to the renovations, Boehringer Ingelheim has committed to giving AmeriCares Free Clinics $200,000 a year in operating funds. The money will be used to support both the Danbury clinic and the Boehringer Ingelheim – AmeriCares Free Clinics Outreach Program which utilizes the mobile clinic to serve residents of Bethel and New Milford.

“We wish we had more partnerships like the extraordinary one we have with Boehringer Ingelheim,” Gottlieb said. “They are making a huge commitment to the area where their employees live and work.”

Since 2002 the company has donated more than $800,000 to fund an outreach program to increase access to health care in Danbury and surrounding communities. In addition, Boehringer Ingelheim has supported AmeriCares international programs.

One of the missions of the Boehringer Ingelheim Cares Foundation, established in 2001, is to improve access to quality health care for those in need.

“Our partnership with AmeriCares underscores our company’s longstanding commitment to helping the uninsured,” said Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals President and Chief Executive Officer J. Martin Carroll.