With growing numbers of providers supplying service at the Free Clinic of Meridian, patients are finding shorter wait times once they make appointments. But the increased activity also means the clinic finds itself seeking more volunteers to help with services.

“We definitely need nurses,” said Celeste Ford, a registered nurse and the clinic manager. She also noted an array of other types of volunteers in demand, such as phlebotomists, emergency medical technicians, certified nursing assistants, front desk workers, social workers and others. The need for volunteers, she explained, ranges from people with specialized medical training to those with no medical training at all.

“Anyone can volunteer,” she said. “We can find something for them to do. Some of it is filing — if somebody doesn’t want to work with the public, we’ve got data entry, filing, stuffing envelopes. Or if you like to talk to people, we can put you at the front desk, and you can talk to people all day.”

Volunteers also contribute varying amounts of hours.

If You Need Care

Clinic hours are from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays, and from 5 to 8 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

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The Free Clinic of Meridian provides primary health services and referrals for patients, from 19 to 64 years old, who do not have insurance and whose household income is no greater than 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. The clinic, which opened in 2014, is funded by grants and donations, Ford said.

Tapping a local residency program

Ford said the growth of the EC Health Net Family Medicine Residency Program, in Meridian, has enabled the clinic to tap the services of more resident physicians than in the past.

“They’ve grown, and it’s helped us to grow,” she said.

The Free Clinic of Meridian, she said, can now offer between 20 and 25 provider-staffed clinic sessions a month, up from about 12 to 16 such clinics a few months ago. A clinic usually runs about three to four hours, she said.

Almost 700 patients are signed up with the clinic, compared to about 600 at the beginning of the year, Ford said.

Dr. Lee Valentine, D.O., is the free clinic’s medical director, and he’s also the program director and director of medical education for the EC Health Net Family Medicine Residency Program.

Valentine said the program began in 2014, with just a few residents.

“Now that we have 18 family medicine residents, we’re able to provide more contact hours in the free clinic,” he said, noting that a dozen of those students — in their second and third years — contribute to the free clinic. Their work helps the clinic, he said, and it also helps the residents “to understand the needs of patients who have limited resources.”

Valentine noted the challenge of finding volunteer physicians.

“We’ve had a problem with getting (volunteer) physicians to work in the clinic,” he said — and that’s made the growth of the three-year residency program all the more crucial for the free clinic.

Brenda Hiatt, president of the free clinic’s board of directors, also underlined the importance of the residency program’s growth to the clinic.

“That has been a tremendous change,” she said. “We have so many more providers than we had in the past.”

Hiatt also noted the presence of two paid part-time staff members at the clinic — though she emphasized the critical role volunteers play.

“When we opened the clinic, we had no paid staff at all,” she said.

Struggling to find care

Ford and the clinic’s volunteer providers say many of the clinic’s patients are working but cannot afford health insurance.

“I’ve had people come in here who are pulling two or three jobs,” said Dr. Matthew A. Ward, D.O., a resident physician at the clinic. “They simply can’t afford the insurance premiums.”

In Mississippi, about 348,000 people in Mississippi were uninsured based on 2015 Current Population Survey data, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Of those, 28 percent fall into what’s often called the “coverage gap” that exists within states, such as Mississippi, that opted not to accept Medicaid expansion as part of the Affordable Care Act. Mississippi’s coverage gap is the highest listed on the Kaiser Family Foundation’s website of any state in the country.

“People in the coverage gap,” according to an analysis by the foundation, “would be eligible for Medicaid should their state opt to expand Medicaid but are otherwise likely to remain uninsured, as they have limited incomes, are unlikely to have an affordable offer of coverage from an employer, and do not have access to affordable coverage options under the ACA.”

The lists and analysis can be found at http://tinyurl.com/KaiserFamilyFoundationStats.

Focus on chronic illness

Ford said the Free Clinic of Meridian providers see quite a bit of chronic illness, but she noted that “anyone without insurance can apply for services” as long as they meet age and income requirements. Since the clinic does not accept walk-ins, Ford encouraged people to make appointments, if they can, before emergencies arise. Once patients are in the system, she said, they will be seen much faster than they will for the initial visit.

“The main illnesses we see are diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, thyroid disease and chronic lung issues,” she said. “Probably the majority of our population (has) diabetes, and insulin is just expensive. Some of the people coming in … haven’t been on their medicines for years. Sometimes they have to come in once a month for a while until we can get their medicines regulated.”

Valentine noted the goal of reaching patients earlier in their illnesses.

“We’re seeing a lot of people who are suffering the results of uncontrolled medical problems,” he said. “The longer we are here, and the (earlier) we can reach them, the better.”

Ford said the clinic can supply vouchers to help patients purchase medicine, and clinic volunteers also help patients to obtain aid from pharmaceutical companies through patient assistance programs.

Patients also come to the clinic with mental health needs, explained Dr. Chris Moore, D.O., a resident physician at the clinic. Sometimes providers can help those patients on the spot, he said.

“If it’s something more severe … then we try to get them to Alliance (Health Center) or Weems (Community Mental Health).”

One of the registered nurses volunteering on Monday morning was Betty Landrum, who’s been a nurse for 44 years. She retired from Rush Health Systems in 2014.

“These (patients) are more desperate,” she said of the patients at the clinic. “A lot of times they come in and they don’t have any other place to go. It makes you feel good to know that you’ve helped somebody with their care. We try to keep them reassured so they don’t get afraid that they’re going to be left out.”

Ford said people with questions about the clinic, including those who want to volunteer, can call 601-286-5551. She noted that the clinic also offers classes, held at various locations, through a program called “A Healthier You,” funded by a grant from CVS.