Hospitals with heart

Eight Palm Beach County hospitals showed how charity and good business practice can be mutually beneficial when they donated $210,000 to the Caridad Clinic that serves migrant farmworkers.

The clinic west of Boynton Beach treats hundreds of indigent patients each year. Caridad keeps injured and ailing workers from going to hospital emergency rooms. The preventive care that Caridad provides promotes good health and keeps minor illnesses from becoming major.

The hospitals -- JFK, Palms West, Columbia, West Boca, Delray, Good Samaritan, Bethesda and Boca Raton -- appreciate the Caridad for problems they don't see and bills they don't have to write off. The clinic estimates that it saves area hospitals $5 million each year.

Caridad development director Maria Puente-Duany said the donation will help pay operating costs, pharmaceutical bills and other expenses. Besides gratitude for their largess, the hospitals should receive encouragement to keep the donations coming.