The mission of the Gloucester-Mathews Free Clinic is to provide community-based healthcare for the residents of Gloucester and Mathews Counties who lack health insurance or enough income to pay for it. Our goal is to provide this care through the efforts of volunteers and paid professional and support staff, and through contributions.
Gloucester-Mathews Free Clinic is committed to Everyone from Gloucester and Mathews Counties having Access to Basic Healthcare,
including, Medical, Dental and Patient Education.
Historical
Perspective
Gloucester-Mathews
Free Clinic celebrated its 10th
Anniversary on July 30, 2008.
The idea
for a local medical clinic to serve the
"working poor", or those who
are employed but cannot afford
insurance, came out of a mid-1997
discussion among members of the Abingdon
Episcopal Church outreach
committee. Enthusiasm for the idea
spread from the church members to the
community, including local medical
professionals.
The
supporters organized and in December
1997 kicked off a $74,000 drive for
funds to establish the clinic and to
cover its expenses through
1998. Peggy Bowditch was a
co-director of the Campaign.
The
Campaign got a big boost when Riverside
Walter Reed Hospital contributed a
matching grant of $25,000 and use of its
former satellite facility at Gloucester
Point. The Campaign surpassed its
goal in March 1998.
The
Gloucester-Mathews Free Clinic (GMFC)
held an Open House on July 30, 1998.
Judy
Remsberg was the first paid Executive
Director, Fred Arnold, M.D. was the
first volunteer Medical Director,
and Rick Allen the first Pharmacist.
In 2005,
the Clinic became a partner forming the
Greater Virginia Peninsula Consortium of
Free Clinics, working with Lackey
Free Clinic in Yorktown, H.E.L.P
Free Clinic in Hampton, and Peninsula
Christian Free Clinic in Newport
News.
This
Partnership has achieved impressive
results:
Charity
Care Agreements with Riverside
Health System, Mary Immaculate
Hospital, and Sentara Hospital
so that our uninsured patients
can receive free services for
diagnostic testing, outpatient
and inpatient services.
A
shared data management system to
generate regional public
awareness regarding the large
number of people who are
uninsured.
Funds to increase the hours of practitioners to serve in chronic care clinics through a grant with Riverside Health System Foundation.
Funds
to increase the hours of nurse
practitioners to coordinate
chronic care clinics through a
grant with Riverside Health
System Foundation.
Funds
to develop a regional dental
program through grants from
United Way of the Virginia
Peninsula and the Bernardine
Franciscan Sisters Foundation.
