by Jennifer Kowalewski

New income guidelines mean more uninsured area residents can head to the Free Clinic.

Community Service Programs (CSP) can now reach more people in need. Because federal poverty guidelines were changed, more individuals and families throughout Athens County are eligible, without cost to them, to receive the clinic’s services.

Melanie Moynan-Smith, CSP certified nurse practitioner, says the changed guidelines went into effect Aug. 8, allowing more of the county’s 18 to 64-year-olds with no medical insurance to be served by the clinic. The new guidelines allow for a family of one with a gross annual income up to $14,355 and no medical insurance to be eligible for the clinic’s services. The new guidelines also allow an additional $4,890 of income per each additional family member.

Previous guidelines allowed for a maximum income of $9,570 for a single-person family.

“Our mission is to provide health-care services, including screening services, episodic care and prevention and health education,” Moynan-Smith says. “We also want to educate health-care professionals and medical students to the needs of the underserved and uninsured and advocate for them to obtain access to needed community resources.”

The clinic not only evaluates patients who do not have primary care physicians, it is the first step towards getting people to have regular primary care physicians, says Christopher Simpson, D.O., an associate professor of family medicine who is part of the clinic’s staff. The clinic also provides its clients with a list of resources by which medical and health-care needs outside of the scope of the clinic’s services can be met.

“Even though the clinic cannot see people outside its eligibility guidelines, there are other places of which we can inform them as well,” Simpson says.

Moynan-Smith says that the idea for free clinical services originated with the Healthy Adult Project, a CSP program. HAP screens residents for health problems such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.

CSP felt a real need to provide other diagnostic and preventive services that could improve the lives of local uninsured residents in addition to the services provided directly through HAP. The clinic, for instance, evaluates for other serious health conditions such as thyroid problems and hypertension.

“The most important thing is to capture those people who weren’t getting medical care,” says Debbie White, R.N., CSP nurse consultant.

Those wishing to see if they qualify for the program or to schedule an appointment should call CSP at (800) 844-2654 or (740) 593-2432. The free clinic operates from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Thursdays at the Federal Resource Center in Stewart. Stewart is 10 miles west of Athens along State Route 329, off Route 50 at Guysville.

For serious illness or accident, please seek immediate treatment at the nearest hospital or contact an emergency service.

The clinic is funded by grants from the Sisters of St. Joseph Charitable Fund, OU-COM’s Department of Family Medicine and the Appalachian Rural Health Institute.