A long-standing effort to make healthcare more accessible took a major step forward Wednesday with the grand opening of Northern Kentucky’s first free full-time health clinic.
The clinic is an extension of Faith Community Health Network’s free pharmacy. It is located in the same building as the pharmacy at 601 Washington Ave. in Newport, making it an easy one-stop shop for people to see a physician and pick up prescriptions in one trip.
Faith Community Health Network Executive Director Aaron Broomall said at the end of the day the work that the network does comes down to people.
“It’s speaking dignity back into the single mom who’s working two part-time jobs and doesn’t get health care,” Broomall said. “It’s dignity to the child whose dad just lost his job and they lost their health insurance. It’s dignity to our friends and neighbors that are working hard in small businesses who can’t afford to provide healthcare insurance. Its dignity to those businesses whose employees can be counted on to show up at work again because they’re getting their basic healthcare needs.”
Learn more about the gap in health insurance coverage in Northern Kentucky
The Faith Community Pharmacy was founded in 2002 by a few local pharmacists in partnership with St. Vincent de Paul of Northern Kentucky. Those founders saw people regularly coming into their pharmacy and either only buying the amount of medicine they could afford or not getting the medication they’d been prescribed due to cost. The pharmacy serves uninsured and underinsured patients, so you can have insurance and still receive service.
The clinic, however, will only serve uninsured people.
“The work that Faith Community Pharmacy and now the clinic is bringing to the city, it’s a real difference maker,” said Newport City Manager John Hayden. “If you look at the numbers, it’s significant, like 60% reduction in ambulance calls, significant reduction in hospitalization because of the resources and the service that’s provided by this organization, and what a win for the community that they come in here and place a free clinic in one of our historic structures, and we’re just so excited to have them.”
Dr. Rob Tracy sits on Faith Community Health Network’s board and has been working with the network to open the clinic.
Tracy told LINK nky in March that many patients are going in and out of the health care system because of insurance loss.
“All too often, our clients would come and go from the pharmacy, not because they no longer needed our support of this vital lifeline, but because they couldn’t afford access to healthcare in a system they could not find a provider they could afford,” Tracy said.
The pharmacy serves 14 counties in Northern Kentucky, and the clinic will do the same.
The Faith Community Health Network is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Its income is based on donations, sponsorships and money raised through fundraising events.
The clinic is open Monday through Thursday and primarily operates through appointments, which can be scheduled here.
