The Community Health Clinic of Butler County is one step closer to becoming a reality with the completion of its needs assessment study.

• The clinic will focus on adults, ages 18 to 64, because the state provides health insurance for children whose parents cannot afford to provide such insurance. Also senior citizens can participate in government-sponsored health care programs.

The study, which was done to see if there is a need in the county for the clinic, found:

• In 2005, 2,281 uninsured patients used Butler Memorial Hospital's emergency department, which cost about $1.6 million in unreimbursed care. Most of the visits were non-emergency in nature and could have been handled by a clinic.

• There are no medical and dental services provided by the state that provides primary treatment or follow-up care for chronic illness.

• Fifteen of the county's 33 townships have average household incomes below the poverty rate.

"This study confirmed the need for a clinic to provide primary medical and dental care for an estimated 11,000-plus income-eligible, uninsured residents," said Ken Bennett, chairman of the health clinic's executive committee, in a news release.

The clinic is expected to have 1,100 to 1,400 visits in its first year. It will not charge for the visits or for medication and will depend on volunteer services and community financial support, the study states.

Jean Purvis of Penn Township, who has been a health care advocate for years, brought the idea for a free-community health clinic back to the county from a vacation.

She learned of the clinic concept during visits to Hilton Head, S.C., where retired doctors, nurses and other health care professionals volunteer in a clinic to help uninsured or underinsured residents in that community.

That clinic, part of the Volunteers in Medicine system, was founded in 1992. The organization has since grown to 45 clinics in 18 states, each meeting the specific needs of their communities.

Purvis and Bennett, with the help of numerous volunteers, are organizing the free clinic.

Executive committee members are working to open the clinic by June 2007.

In addition to Bennett and Purvis, the committee is made up of:

Kristy Wright, chief executive officer of the Visiting Nurses Association of Western Pennsylvania; Jessica Forsythe, an architect and owner of 4-Most Group, architectural firm; the Rev. Tom Pierotti of Trinity LutheranChurch; and Nancy McKee, director of Family Services, part of the Butler Health System.

Dr. Tom McGill, BMH vice president of quality and safety; Jim Cunningham, a self-employed fund development consultant; and Bill Fraser, a developer, also are volunteering to help get the clinic off the ground.