Editor’s Note: Last year we introduced Courtney and Paul, two production professionals who founded The Clinic: A Roadie Advocacy Group. The mission is simple: “We exist to empower and heal roadies and their families by providing resources and services tailored to the struggles of the touring lifestyle.” Here’s an update on what they’ve been up to of late as the program continues to build despite the pandemic, and go here to find out more about The Clinic.
The month of March marked our one-year anniversary of leaving our beloved New York City and permanently moving to the home of The Roadie Clinic in Niles, MI. While we will never regret that decision, it was quite the overnight culture shock that we never really had a chance to process… On March 19, 2020 we woke up in our dream apartment on the Upper West Side and on March 20, 2020 we laid our heads on our pillows in a tent in our building in Niles that was nothing more than a demolition construction site.
We have a new partnership with Mako Medical, and their pharmacy program, Mako Rx, which is working to build a telemedicine and discount pharmacy supplement for our community. This would include unlimited 24/7 access to a doctor via telemedicine, 400 preventative and mental health drugs free of cost within the local pharmacy network, and four sessions with a counselor. All of this would cost as little as one to two days of per diem, per month.
The plan will be open to crew, dancers and band members alike, and they can add family members to the supplement as well. The big win – you can call a doctor from the privacy of your hotel room (or bunk) and have a prescription sent to a local pharmacy for same-day service. We’re really excited that a medical group sees the value in a non-traditional community like ours.
This season also marked our first Global Care Network gathering, comprised of organizations from Australia to the U.S. and all the way over to the UK. We all showed up to support each other and the work we’re doing for crew and family members, and we’ll be meeting quarterly. It also provides fascinating first-hand accounts of industry news around the world. By the way, they’re already doing shows with crowds of 60,000 in Australia, so there is hope!
Stateside, we’re full steam ahead with our architect finalizing plans for The Roadie Clinic headquarters building in downtown Niles (illustration below). We’re building educational opportunities for our team, focused on mental health education, suicide prevention, sexual harassment, and drug overdose prevention, and we’ll happily share the results of those courses and hopefully offer recommendations for others to receive the same.
And we’re seeing signs of the industry waking back up, with many people booking work and shows popping up all over the place. All of this contributes to the building of our foundation, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to see consistent, positive results along the way.
As always, please feel free to reach out to us via theroadieclinic.com and [email protected].
