Clark County residents who are medically uninsured may soon have the option of charitable health care if a subcommittee of the Strategic Plan follows through with such a clinic.

The Clark County Charitable Christian Health Service was proposed at a recent health care subcommittee meeting. Cindy Jackson, parish nurse at First United Methodist Church, said planning and success of a project like this would depend on community response. About 60 community members attended the meeting at Greater Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, so Jackson said the project would be worth trying. So far, eight physicians, four dentists and a chiropractor have volunteered their services for the charitable clinic.

Jackson said that, since most local physicians prefer to see patients in their own office, the proposed idea is to have a central location for screening patients before sending them to see a physician.

“We hope that the start-up of the project will be funded by grants,” she said. One grant has been submitted to Southern Financial Partners. Jackson said she hopes that local churches will fund the service. Though a facility for the center has yet to be located, a group of 10 nursing students from Henderson State University have been assisting in finding a “suitable location” as well as working on finding grants. Jackson said she will be meeting with the group today to review their research on location.

Jackson said the service is planned to begin in June. Jackson and other organizers are now working to form a board of directors, establishing bylaws and getting policies and procedures of the clinic together, she said. The clinic will be incorporated.

The charitable clinic will be solely for people without medical insurance. Those who have health insurance will not qualify for care. Though the health care will not be completely free, Jackson said it will be available to qualified individuals at a low cost.

Rather than someone simply going to see a volulnteer physician, qualified individuals will have to go to the charitable clinic and be assigned to a physician before making a doctor’s appointment.
Jackson said this approach to charitable health care “is a new model as far as I can tell. Most communities have a clinic where people go to and the physician volunteers their time. This model is an innovative approach to charitable health care.”

It is uncertain how long the service will be available. “We are giving it a year’s commitment to see if it works,” Jackson said. “I think it will.”

Anyone interested in volunteering services or funding the operation can call Jackson at 230-3716.

A follow-up meeting for the subcommittee has not been set, but will be held in early December.