Engage Free Clinic News - September 2024
At the end of 2023, after much prayer and visiting with many people, the Engage Free Clinic decided to undergo a complete overhaul. It was precipitated by the fact, that many all-volunteer, rural free clinics in Oklahoma (and everywhere) were closing post-pandemic. Volunteers were burned out and providers and pharmacists who could serve became hard to find because they were overwhelmed in their own practices. Finally, our patient area became very large, due to other closings, making distance an issue for patients. As a small rural clinic with limited funds, like most of the other rural free clinics, something would have to change to continue operating and even consider rebuilding the free clinic market in our rural areas.
So in 2024, Engage's Volunteer Executive Director Frank Kelly, along with the Board of Directors and Bill Sisson from the Baptist Medical / Dental Fellowship began work creating a whole new clinic model specially designed for rural free clinics.
In doing so, certain things became apparent. We needed electronic health records and telemedicine capabilities in a much cheaper form than was currently on the market. Rural free clinics needed to be able to cover a region instead of one community. Also, smaller clinics needed a medicine supplier to be able to provide prescriptions in more isolated areas such as mail order.
We are excited to say we have designed a new clinic model and are ready to begin implementing it immediately.
We have done two things...
First, we have set up our own region which covers four counties; Pottawatomie, Lincoln, Seminole and Hughes County. We will keep our main Brick and mortar clinic North of Shawnee. We will then open satellite clinics in the rural towns as needed. Prescriptions will be supplied to the satellites from our Shawnee Clinic via mail order.
To keep costs low, we have done two things. First, we have secured a deal with charm health to get electronic health records in a very affordable form for us. We also, put together our own telemedicine equipment package that can be purchased for a one-time cost of a few thousand dollars which brings cutting edge technology to our rural areas without things we don't need like a large urban clinic would.
Second, we have worked out a deal with the Oklahoma Department of Health to use their county health clinics, after hours, free of charge (a couple of clinics have already done this) so our cost to run a rural clinic will be hundreds instead of ten's of thousands, because we are all volunteer.
Implementation has begun! Thursday, September 19th, we will hold a soft opening for Engage Free Clinic, Holdenville and then plans are already underway to open an Engage clinic in Chandler and then Seminole to cover our region. With this new model we can open a free clinic rapidly for a very low cost! And, with our telemedicine option, if we need a provider, a nurse can connect with one, either from another engage clinic or any doctor in the state using teleconferencing. eliminating the provider shortage. We've already had volunteers from urban areas who are unable to get to rural areas. Pray for us!
We have been meeting with several groups during the process. The Butterfield Foundation of Oklahoma City has indicated a willingness to pay for all of our fixed equipment (computers, etc) in an effort to help the rural health care crisis. It will take a couple of months to become available but will benefit us greatly in the near future.
We have visited with state officials and private groups upon finishing the business plan and have been met with excitement. A lot of them are getting on board and want us to lead an effort statewide.
We are really only capable of effectively running our region at this point. But what we have agreed to help in a couple of ways.
1) We have started forming an informal group of rural free clinics under the name ENGAGE OKLAHOMA. Through this association, we will show any other free clinic our business plan and consult with them on how to upgrade technology or start a new clinic for free and no obligation. This will give a smaller church or rural group the tools and confidence to help combat the uninsured rural healthcare crisis. If they choose to use the same software, they can also be connected in our network to access doctor telemedicine conferencing should they need it, giving isolated rural free clinics access to urban resources.
2) We are working with the Butterfield Foundation to start a statewide pharmacy supplier in Oklahoma City to provide mail order prescriptions to startup and isolated rural free clinics using donated medicine and pharmacy students from Oklahoma University doing clinical hours as well as other volunteers. We have secured a location in a closed church free clinic which is already built for it at no charge. The Oklahoma State Pharmacy Board has offered their support, and Butterfield has offered the possibility of paying for any needed equipment. We have filed a grant request with them.
The OBU School of nursing, who brings in nursing students to our Shawnee Free Clinic to do clinical hours, is also excited about Holdenville and wants to bring nursing students in for more clinical hours as opportunities become available!
God is definitely moving! I find myself both excited with His plans and gnawing my teeth at delays. But it's all part of doing new things. I appreciate your commitment and patience. We are attracting attention and larger media interviews are being done. Opening a Church based, free medical clinic and pharmacy right before a pandemic was a never before seen struggle for most of us. The last year has brought a lot of changes and struggles that go with it. But we have survived due to God's blessing and are now positioning ourselves to be a leader for Oklahoma rural free clinics...maybe more. And we've done it staying %100 volunteer and donation based, with your support and prayers! Continue to pray for us as we seek to rebuild in new and exciting ways!
Consider financially supporting us! For as little as $25 you can support one working uninsured patient with a visit, labs and prescriptions for a month, keeping them working while they seek to get reinsured as well as taking the unpaid emergency room costs off of financially strapped rural hospitals!
You can contribute securely on our donation page here!
Blessings!
Frank Kelly, Executive Director
Engage Free Clinic's and Pharmacy
