The Albert McFall family set up a memorial fund many years ago to assist cancer patient families of low income Pratt County residents. Cancer patient families not only carry the burden of cancer medicals costs, but also the additional expenses caused by the treatments. The fund is under the direction of Pratt Regional Medical Center’s (PRMC) Social Service Department and 100% of the contributions help low income families battling cancer.

The Pratt community and Martha McFall lost her husband, Albert, to cancer in 1983. The family established the McFall fund in 1984 with $1,000 of memorial contributions. Through the McFall fund, the memory of Albert continues to this day. The fund depends entirely on memorial contributions to help people with specific expenses.

As the years have passed, the number of organizations who request memorials has increased dramatically. So the McFall fund struggles to maintain enough cash flow to assist the low income families it serves. From 2000 to 2006, the fund received $14,510 and has given low income families $14,454. But the income from memorials in the last two years has dropped to a total of $540.

Gordon Stofer, PRMC Chief Financial Officer who accounts for the McFall fund for the Pratt Health Foundation, is concerned. “If donations and memorials to the fund do not increase, we will have to start turning more people away. The growing number of cancer patients has depleted the fund’s resources over the past two years while the income stream has decreased. The hard thing about turning people away is that these families have very limited resources.”

Most cancer patients can not work while they are going through radiation and chemotherapy, so they do not have any income. Sometimes getting to a radiation therapy facility uses a tank of gas which is a significant cost if a weekly treatment is 50 to 70 miles away.

The Pratt Health Foundation hopes that many in the Pratt area will surface to help cancer patients. “I hope people will become aware of this great program and make a donation to the McFall Fund to help keep it alive,” states DeWayne Bryan, the PHF Executive Director. He continues, “The McFall family started this fund which has met the needs of families with few resources and no one to turn to. These families have travel, baby-sitting, food and lodging expenses which are not covered by insurance, Medicaid or Medicare. Sometimes families have exhausted all of their personal resources fighting cancer and they are destitute.” Remember, 100% of the money received for this program goes to help families who really need it.

Individuals, businesses and clubs who would like to help should contact DeWayne Bryan at the Pratt Health Foundation for additional information. The office is located at 203 S. Main and the PHF phone number is (620) 672-6411.

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