Two clinics that provide free health care to low-income residents in Clark County will receive $100,000 grants from a coalition of regional medical providers.
The Free Clinic of Southwest Washington will use its grant to improve and expand its volunteer program. The clinic also wants to broaden its funding base by increasing community awareness and conduct an assessment of client needs.
Battle Ground HealthCare will use the $100,000 to hire two part-time employees and improve health care for low-income residents.
Kaiser Permanente Northwest, Legacy Health, PeaceHealth and Providence Health & Services joined forces to create the “Health Systems Access to Care Fund,” with each partner contributing $300,000. The coalition announced Thursday that the $1.2 million fund, administered through the Oregon Community Foundation, will provide two-year $100,000 grants to the two clinics in Clark County and to six clinics in Oregon.
The Free Clinic in Vancouver was started in 1990 as an urgent care clinic, open one night a week. Today, the Free Clinic, located at 4100 Plomondon St., is the largest walk-in, free urgent care clinic in Washington.
For the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2018, the clinic recorded more than 6,900 patient visits. Nearly 500 volunteers provided 17,600 hours of care valued at $692,000.
“A lot of what we do is trying to help people who are falling through the cracks,” said Ann Wheelock, the clinic’s executive director. “You would be surprised that a lot of your neighbors, they work hard, they are employed, but they don’t have health insurance.”
The $100,000 actually consists of a $50,000 grant the Free Clinic received earlier this year, plus another $50,000 it will get in 2020.
Wheelock said the money will help the clinic bump up hours for its part-time volunteer coordinator so she is close to being a full-time employee.
“It’s just really critical that we be organized when health care providers — doctors, nurses and pharmacists — want to volunteer,” she said. “We need to make sure that potential volunteers know about us.
“Nobody wants to be a volunteer and have a bad experience,” she added.
The needs assessment will allow the Free Clinic to stay abreast of changing medical needs in the community, Wheelock said.
“We are seeing more people these days who have chronic conditions,” she said. “We want to be sure we have the right physician specialists here.”
Battle Ground HealthCare, located at 11117 N.E. 189th St., began providing medical care in May 2011. The clinic added dental care in April 2014 and started providing rehabilitation services in November 2016.
The clinic provides a variety of health services to adults, 18 and older. It treated 823 patients in 2016, with dental care accounting for about 60 percent of patient visits.
Sue Neal, executive director of Battle Ground HealthCare, said the $100,000 grant will allow the clinic to hire a part-time fund development director to work with existing donors and seek new funding and a part-time director of operations to oversee clinic operations.
“We are absolutely delighted that our health care systems recognize that operational funding is so difficult for free clinics,” Neal said, adding that grants often are awarded for new programs, not for ongoing operations.
“We are just very, very grateful to the health systems for providing this support and being partners in serving this community,” she said.
