The staff, board of directors and volunteers of the Great River Charitable Clinic have been overwhelmed by the strides made in the first year of the clinic's operation.
Formed to help provide health care to persons who "fall through the cracks," the clinic provides health care to persons who have no health insurance or government-provided health programs.
The clinic opened on March 1 of 2009. Since that time, 265 patients have been registered and provided health services valued at more than $47,000, said Connie Ash, clinic director.
"We should pass the 300-patient mark by our anniversary date in March," she said.
More than $158,000 worth of prescriptions have been filled for free for the patients, and local volunteers have given 5,286.3 hours of their time to patients served.
A computer program measured the value of the volunteers' time at $103,950.
"It's just been beyond our dreams," Ash said of the clinic's first year.
Statistics show that 90 percent of donations to the clinic are used for patient care.
"It's been a blessed year," added Tamika Jenkins, board secretary and the clinic's volunteer public relations officer.
Board members have been pleased with the operations of the clinic. "We're doing more than we ever thought we'd do," Ash said.
"We were thinking that it would take us two to three years to get where we are now," said Rick Ash, vice president of the board.
The volunteers are the reason the clinic has been so successful, the board members said.
"It's not just a medical clinic," Connie Ash said. "It truly is holistic care. We provide total care."
The clinic provides not only medical treatment, but dental, optometric and pastoral care as well.
A large percentage of the holistic care is provided by the volunteers, who greet the patients at the door, lead them through the processes and make sure the patients receive the care they need.
"We have a host of unusually talented volunteers who work their regular jobs and then come in here and work," Ash said. "And they have a good time doing it."
"We have a genuine caring atmosphere here," Jenkins said.
"This past year has been awesome," said Mike Welch, president of the board. "I don't use that term lightly. I use it in reference to God and his work."
The board also attributed the clinic's success to caring members of the community.
"Our community has come together across party lines, across racial lines, across other boundaries," Welch said.
Area businesses and churches have wholeheartedly supported the clinic, the board members said.
"The churches have truly taken us on as a mission," Connie Ash said. "It proves that you don't have to leave the country, or even this town to find a mission."
There are even more services planned for the clinic. The board was recently notified that the donations of an EKG machine and a panoramic X-ray machine are forthcoming. These two pieces of equipment will allow the doctors to make better decisions for their patients.
The value of the machines is more than $6,000.
The Great River Charitable Clinic is open two nights a month, the first and third Thursdays. The clinic is also open on Monday and Wednesday mornings to help get patients registered.
For more information, or to volunteer time or make donations, contact the clinic at 762-5459 or go by at 33 Arkansas St.
Its Web site is www.greatriverclinic.org.
dhilton@blythevillecourier.comCharitable Clinic
off to great start