FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Huntington County Democratic Party Statement on Closure of Pediatric Walk-In Clinic

HUNTINGTON, Ind. — The Huntington County Democratic Party is saddened and concerned by the announcement that the Pediatric Walk-In Clinic at PPG Huntington will close effective May 1, 2026.

For a lot of families in our community, this clinic wasn’t just another option. It was the place you went when your child woke up sick, and you didn’t know what else to do. It was where working parents could get help without waiting days for an appointment. It was peace of mind.

And now it’s going away.

This change means more than just scheduling ahead. It means parents rearranging work schedules. It means longer drives for care. It means more stress in moments that are already hard.

And for some families, it may mean waiting longer than they should.

That’s the part that should concern all of us.

We’ve seen this pattern before in rural communities like ours. Services don’t disappear all at once. It happens one piece at a time. A clinic changes hours. A service gets reduced. A program goes away. And before you know it, families have fewer and fewer places to turn.

This isn’t happening because our community doesn’t care. It’s happening because the system supporting rural healthcare is under strain.

When funding is tight and policies don’t reflect the realities of small communities, providers are forced into difficult decisions. And too often, those decisions land on services that families rely on every day.

This is what that looks like in real life.

It looks like a parent holding a sick child and wondering where to go.

It looks like missed work and added stress.

It looks like small barriers that quickly become big ones.

Huntington County deserves better than that.

We believe our families should be able to access care close to home. We believe parents shouldn’t have to think twice about getting their child seen. And we believe our community is worth investing in, not slowly pulling resources away from.

This moment should be a reminder that decisions made at the state and federal level have real consequences in communities like ours. When support for rural healthcare weakens, we feel it here at home.

We encourage our state and federal leaders to prioritize policies that strengthen rural healthcare, support providers, and protect access to care for families.

Because at the end of the day, this isn’t about systems or structures.

It’s about kids.

It’s about parents.

It’s about making sure that when a child needs care, it’s there.

And that should never be something a community has to fight to keep.

This election season, we invite you to look closely at the policies behind the names on the ballot. Healthcare decisions made at the state and federal level shape what happens here at home. Right now, Indiana’s GOP supermajority has spent more time pushing back on healthcare solutions from Democrats than making any meaningful changes. Simply because they can. That kind of imbalance isn’t good for Hoosiers, and it’s why we need to level the playing field.

We know that Democratic candidates are committed to strengthening access to care and supporting communities like Huntington County.

Huntington County Democratic Party