Thousands of patients use free health clinic
SUMMIT TWP — Three years old, the Community Health Clinic of Butler County has had thousands of visits from county residents in need of medical care.
Cese Foster, the clinic's executive director, said in 2010 the free clinic had a total of 1,984 visits with 1,435 of those being for medical appointments.
“Since we opened in January 2008, we have had 6,154 visits and in 2009 we added dental services with more than 320 patients for full mouth X-rays, cleanings, extractions and fillings,” Foster said.
The clinic's success comes from the volunteers who see patients in and out of the clinic.
“We have doctors who are willing to see patients on a referral basis, pro bono,” Foster said. “We try just to send one or two a month, the ones that are in crisis, instead of flooding them with patients and wearing out our welcome.”
For instance, seven dentists volunteer at the clinic while two oral surgery groups see patients for free when referred by the clinic.
Foster said the clinic has 11 doctors, registered nurses, certified nurse practitioners and pharmacists as well as more than 150 staff volunteers.
One of the doctors who sees patients a couple of days a month is Dr. Leonard Zadecky, a retired internist from VA Butler Healthcare.
Already volunteering six days a week at a food pantry, Zadecky found himself headed for the community clinic as a volunteer at the behest of a nurse practitioner he knew.
“Well, I couldn't say no. So now I see patients two to five times a month depending on my schedule,” he said.“You had a skill set that needs to be used,” Foster told the doctor. “They can find someone else for the food bank, but we can't find someone else to see patients.”Zadecky said when he started at the clinic he was “pleasantly” surprised at the professionalism of the clinic staff and the primary care the staff was providing to “essentially the working poor.“Some of these people are working two or three part-time jobs just trying to make ends meet and they can't afford medical care on top of that,” he said.The community clinic is part of the Volunteers in Medicine system, which has more than 45 clinics in 18 states, providing free care to people 19 to 64 years of age with incomes no higher than 200 percent of poverty level and no health insurance.The idea came to Butler County through Jean Purvis, a longtime community activist, who saw the original VIM clinic in action in South Carolina.The clinic's staff works to find ways to pay for care through grants, as well as government and private programs, including drugs from pharmaceutical companies that the clinic can distribute to patients for free.“So far we have given away about $400,000 in prescriptions to patients because of help from the companies,” Foster said.“We are a safety net in Butler County for those who need medical help.”
