News

Expected spikes in health care premiums, cuts to Medicaid funding and tighter eligibility requirements have left Arlington social services scrambling to meet an incoming surge in need.

Northern Virginia officials at the state and federal level say they’re doing what they can to soften the impacts of planned federal rollbacks, many of which aren’t scheduled to take effect for months or years. Despite Democrats’ efforts in Congress, however, one of the first major changes — a lapse in enhanced premium tax credits under the Affordable Care Act — is expected to hit as many as 100,000 Virginians at the end of the year.


News

Leaders of the Shirlington Employment and Education Center used its 25th-birthday celebration to further commit to supporting the people that the organization helps.

SEEC, as it is known, provides “trust, hard work and hope” for the county’s immigrant population, board chair Chris Concepcion said at an Oct. 10 dinner held at Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church.


News

Federal cuts to Medicaid and food-assistance programs are expected to place greater strain on Arlington’s most vulnerable residents and the social services that support them.

Arlington County officials, health-care workers and nonprofits are still scrambling to determine the local impacts of the new federal spending bill approved last week.


News

With the incoming Trump administration promising stepped up deportations, the Arlington Free Clinic  is clarifying its policies around responding to official inquiries.

The clinic — which provides services to low-income, uninsured Arlington adults — informed volunteers of how to answer “inquiries by officials” in an email yesterday (Monday).


News

The three 2024 William T. Newman Jr. Spirit of Community Award took widely divergent paths on the road to civic leadership.

But the recipients share a number of commonalities, as well.


News

As flu season ramps up, the director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stopped by the Arlington Free Clinic today to rally the healthcare troops.

Dr. Mandy Cohen stopped in Arlington on Tuesday as part of a nationwide tour aimed at boosting vaccinations for Covid and other illnesses, including the flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), while reminding healthcare workers why it is crucial to urge patients to get their vaccinations.


Around Town

Dominion Energy is providing grants to two Arlington nonprofits to help increase medical access to the county’s most vulnerable.

The power company announced last night (Oct. 11) that its charitable foundation is providing $7,500 to PathForward for its “Mobile Medical Program” program and $5,000 to Arlington Free Clinic for medications and vaccinations.


News

Mystery Disease Still Killing Songbirds — “Jennifer Toussaint, chief of animal control in Arlington, Virginia, can’t forget the four baby blue jays. In late May, worried residents had delivered the fledglings to her clinic just outside of Washington, D.C., within just a few hours. Each was plump, indicating ‘their parents had done a great job caring for them,’ Toussaint says. But the birds were lethargic, unable to keep their balance, and blinded by crusty, oozing patches that had grown over their eyes…. Since May, when the illness was first recognized in and around Washington, D.C., researchers have documented hundreds of cases in at least a dozen species of birds in nine eastern and midwestern states. ” [Science Magazine, InsideNova, Fox News]

Plaque to Honor Breast Health Fund’s Namesake — “The Arlington Free Clinic (AFC) on July 7 held a plaque unveiling to celebrate the life of Sharon McGowan, an Arlington mother of seven who died at age 45 after battling breast cancer, and to mark the transfer of a fund in her name supporting breast health… The fund supports mammograms and biopsies for uninsured patients (including those AFC serves) fighting breast cancer in Northern Virginia.” [Sun Gazette]


News

Key Bridge Marker Rediscovered — “A recently identified marker in Virginia hitherto thought lost to history has been rediscovered – hiding in plain sight… The newly-rediscovered marker stands at the Virginia entrance to Key Bridge in the furthest north grassy median separating the westbound entrance to the George Washington Parkway, North Fort Myer Drive, and North Lynn Street.” [Sun Gazette]

Vet Punched By Litterbug — “Arlington County police are looking for two suspects who beat up a military veteran after she asked them to pick up trash dumped outside their car… on 28th St. South near Arlington Ridge Road about 9:30 a.m. Sunday.” [NBC 4]


News

County Still Prepping for Preservation Hearing — “Even though the razing of the Rouse estate may be at hand, the Arlington County government’s historic-preservation staff is taking the steps necessary if public hearings on preservation of the site go forward in April… But nearly all parties now expect that the buildings on the 9-acre site will be razed before those hearings occur.” [Sun Gazette]

Preservationist Compares Estate to Auschwitz — Tom Dickinson, who’s leading the charge to save the Rouse estate, directed the following statement to the County Board over the weekend, referencing the likelihood that enslaved people built part of the estate: “If you, the board, do not intervene to stop this destruction of this sacred site, your individual and collective legacy will be stained forever by a lack of honor and respect for those who labored and suffered to create these structures at this site, and the desecration of them… It would be the equivalent of allowing the destruction of the crematory ovens at Auschwitz.” [Sun Gazette]


News

A new walk-up coronavirus testing site opened Tuesday along Columbia Pike.

The testing center is a partnership of Arlington County, Virginia Hospital Center and Arlington Free Clinic. At a media briefing yesterday, officials from all three spoke about the importance of the facility in the fight against the virus.


View More Stories