Grace Clinic: Volunteer clinic has come a long way, still far to go

Sixteen years ago, two Tri-City physicians began working on the establishment of a free clinic. Soon afterward, Grace Clinic began seeing patients for four hours each Saturday in June 2002. Much has changed since then.

The most recent estimates from the state Insurance Commissioner’s Office place the number of uninsured in Benton and Franklin counties at 32,000. While this number has declined from its peak because of the Affordable Care Act, there are still many in our community who are uninsured, and this number is only likely to increase in the future.

As of early 2018, Grace Clinic has provided more than 65,000 patient visits for low-income, uninsured residents of Benton and Franklin counties. From our beginning seeing medical patients for four hours each Saturday, we have expanded to operating five days each week, providing medical, dental and mental health services to those without other good options for care.

Most of our patients work in low-wage jobs for employers who do not provide health insurance, but make too much to be eligible for Medicaid.

In any given year, about half of the patients we see are new patients. For many years, we have asked out patients where they would go if Grace Clinic were not an option. Not surprisingly, may say they would go to hospital emergency rooms, but more than half tell us they wouldn’t go anywhere. Grace Clinic clearly meets a need that is not met elsewhere in the community.

It is well documented that the uninsured use the ER at a rate that is the same as those with private insurance. It is also important to understand that not only is the ER the most expensive place to get care, but for many, particularly those with a chronic disease, it is the wrong place. The role of the ER does not include helping people manage a chronic condition.

The clinic provides acute care, as well as chronic disease management. We also operate with a high degree of integration between medical and mental health services. Our desire is to treat the whole person, and the integration of medical and mental health is one key aspect of whole person care.

Grace Clinic is operated primarily by volunteers who donate their time and expertise to meeting the needs of the uninsured in our community. The clinic is completely a community endeavor with our volunteers. In addition, all of our funding comes from the community.

Besides providing more than 500 visits each month, the clinic plays a significant role in medical education. We have longstanding relationships with the Washington State University Nursing and Nurse Practitioner programs, the Columbia Basin College Dental Hygiene program and relationships with counseling programs with multiple universities.

In the last year, we have established a relationship with the CBC Medical Interpreting program and the Residency Programs at both Trios and Kadlec. All of the third-year residents from the two programs rotate through Grace Clinic. Our relationships with these programs provide expanded capacity for our patients as well as valuable learning experiences for those in the programs. We are currently developing a relationship with the new WSU Medical School.

The clinic is also participating in a new program launched by PayneWest Insurance offering low-cost access to health care to small employers who historically have not been able to afford to provide benefits to employees.

Grace Clinic has come a long way from our early days of seeing patients for four hours each week, but much remains to be done.

This story was originally published April 2, 2018 at 2:08 PM with the headline "Grace Clinic: Volunteer clinic has come a long way, still far to go."