Imagine being 26 years old, working making $8 an hour and owing $15,000 in medical bills. It is difficult just to pay for the essentials of life. Or that you have diabetes, no health insurance and are trying to support a family of four on $24,000 a year. Paying for testing strips, medications and medical care isn’t an option. These are just two examples of the types of situations that were seen by two nurses working in our community. People loaded with medical expenses they could never pay and others who weren’t receiving the medical care they needed. Often they didn’t seek care until their health situation was in crisis and then the used the emergency room, the most expensive way to receive care.
The Eastern Panhandle Free Clinic opened its doors in 2001 as a result of these nurses recognizing a need. With the support of the local hospital and the community the clinic opened 1 day per week. The initial space was small but free and provided by the hospital. It was an all volunteer effort.
The need was so great that the number of patients grew quickly. It became necessary to expand to a larger space and to hire a skeleton staff to supplement the volunteers. This enabled the clinic to be open more hours per week.
A Grant was submitted to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation which was a matching grant. Our initial funding partners believed in our mission so much that they committed to support us over the four year grant period and many continue to be major supporters. As our patients continued to increase, so did our need for a larger physical space. In 2002, the clinic moved to a 2,400 sq. ft facility on Route 51 in Charles Town. The number of patients continued to increase as the existence of the clinic became more known and as more and more people became affected by unemployment and underemployment.
On July 13, 2009, the clinic moved to its current home in Ranson, WV. Our building space has tripled and we are equipped to handle the growing number of patients that are in need of our services. There are now 14 staff and many volunteers from the community who help us provide comprehensive quality medical care. The clinic is the community’s response to trying to help our neighbors who are in need. Nearly 3,000 patients from over 7 counties in West Virginia receive care at our facility and the number of those needing care continues to grow.
