Category Archive Press Release

The Free Clinics, a free health care program serving uninsured and under-insured residents of Henderson and Polk counties, is one of 15 clinics in the U.S. to receive a 2021 grant from Family Medicine Cares USA, a signature program of the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation. The $10,000 grant will be used to help The Free Clinics expand its facility in Polk County and enhance primary care.

Read more on BlueRidgeNow

11/19/2021

The Free Clinics will offer free flu shots to community members without health insurance from 4-7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 8 at its offices at 841 Case St. in Hendersonville.

The walk-in clinic is scheduled to take place during National Influenza Vaccination Week (Dec. 6-12), an awareness week sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to highlight the importance of yearly flu vaccination.

“As we head into the upcoming months facing the rising cases of COVID, we are still months away from a vaccine for COVID being widely available,” RN Jennifer Tarleton, TFC Clinical Services director, said in a news release.

“Developing both COVID and flu could be an even deadlier risk for many people. The nursing staff is urging the community to protect themselves and get their flu shots.”

The CDC says its more important than ever to get vaccinated for flu, especially those with certain chronic conditions like asthma, heart disease, and diabetes. Getting vaccinated can also reduce the burden of flu illnesses on hospitals so they can focus on patients with COVID-19.

While flu shots have been encouraged nationwide since early fall, it is not too late to get a shot that will be effective for this flu season.

For more information about the Flu Shot Clinic, contact Clinical Services Director Jennifer Tarleton at 828-697-8422 or jtarleton@thefreeclinics-org.us.stackstaging.com.

https://www.blueridgenow.com/news/20201202/free-flu-shots-for-uninsured-dec-8-at-free-clinics

12/02/2020

The Free Clinics (TFC) will be hosting a ribbon cutting event at its new dedicated office in Polk County on Thursday, October 29, at 4:30pm. Located in Suite I at 60 Walker Street in Columbus, the organization officially moved into the space earlier this year on April 1st, but due to the pandemic was not able to welcome patients immediately. With restrictions gradually easing, it has since been able to open its doors.

The Free Clinics has had a presence in Polk County since 2013, and has been accepting patients from Polk for even longer, but this is its first dedicated, non-shared space. While there are no providers at the site, eligible clients—Polk residents who have no insurance and with incomes less than 200% of the federal poverty level—are able to receive case management, specialty referrals, and prescription assistance from the local office. They are also eligible for all services available at the Henderson location.

“The Free Clinics is incredibly excited to welcome the community to our new Columbus office. We believe that this new TFC office will enable greater visibility of our services and ensure greater access to critical care for our Polk County neighbors in need,“ says TFC executive director Judith Long. “We invite you to visit us—to learn more about our services, refer your neighbors, volunteer to help us care for our neighbors in need.”

Polk Case Manager Jada Scruggs adds, “I am so excited about our new adventure in Polk County and all the people we can help. We can’t wait for you to meet us!”

The ribbon cutting gathering will take place outdoors in the parking lot, rain or shine. Individuals will be able to tour the office in small groups to comply with social distancing guidelines.

The new office is also in need of volunteers to help with greeting clients and answering the phone a few days each week. The office is open Monday through Friday from 8am to 4pm.

For more information about The Free Clinics’s services in Polk County, call the Polk office at 828-722-1200. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, contact Sarah Friedell, Community Relations Coordinator at volunteer@thefreeclinics-org.us.stackstaging.com.

10/20/2020

The Free Clinics announced that a new program is set to launch after a brief delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Late in 2019, Henderson County was awarded a Community Linkages to Care Grant for a Post-Overdose Response Team (PORT). Through this program, Certified Peer Support Specialists will work with county EMS and the two local emergency departments to follow-up within 72 hours with people who have experienced an overdose and/or been resuscitated by naloxone. The specialists will meet with the individual and any support person available to provide information about resources for care. They will also follow up with people who have recently been released from detention that are interested in receiving support when they return to the community.  

The program was in the early development stages in March when it was forced to pause due to the North Carolina quarantine, and it wasn’t feasible to start the program under those conditions. “We can’t wait any longer to get this help to our community members who need it,” explained Jodi Grabowski, Behavioral Health System Coordinator for Henderson County. “We know that the conditions that lead to substance use and overdose — isolation, job loss, and other stressors — are being amplified by the pandemic. We’re confident we can provide this service while meeting COVID-19 safety guidelines.” 

The grant required that the local department of public health contract with a local nonprofit experienced in working with vulnerable populations including people who may be experiencing homelessness, are justice-involved, and dealing with behavioral health challenges and substance misuse, and The Free Clinics (TFC) was identified as the contracted agency for the project. 

The peer specialists will carry and distribute naloxone kits, at no cost by The Free Clinics, as well as other harm reduction information and materials. 

“Peer support is based on mutuality and the understanding that we, too, have been there,” explained Virginia Frechette, Certified Peer Support Specialist for the PORT program.  “As an overdose survivor, understanding that I was not alone, that someone cared enough to create a safe space in meeting me right where I was in all of my shame and anxiety was paramount of my willingness to walk in to treatment and recovery.”  

Her teammate, Lexie Wilkins, concurs. “Meeting our peers right where they are, sharing my lived experience to help others overcome life’s challenges and barriers, and walking alongside them and supporting them… it lets them know that they’re not alone, and they can achieve whatever type of life that they want.” 

The PORT program will launch in the same week as International Overdose Awareness Day, a global event held each year on Aug. 31 to raise awareness of overdose and reduce the stigma of a drug-related death. It also acknowledges the grief felt by families and friends remembering those who have died or had a permanent injury as a result of drug overdose. 

In addition to their direct service work, the PORT specialists will gather data about the experiences of the people they serve that will inform efforts toward improving services and resources in Henderson County. The team will work closely with colleagues from TFC, which include two staff based at the detention center: a licensed therapist and a discharge navigator, a position created based on recommendations from the county’s recent task force focused on substance misuse. 

TFC Executive Director Judith Long says of the new program, “The Free Clinics is honored to partner with the county on this exciting and life-changing project. At a community level, we have long recognized the devastation that substance use disorder can have on persons, families, and communities; the pandemic has dramatically heightened the need. This project is more critical now than ever. We look forward to the lives we can touch and save through the multiple partnerships and dynamic engagement of our two new PORT peer support specialists.”

For more information about the Post-Overdose Response Team, please contact Virginia Frechette at 828-845-0441 or Lexie Wilkins at 828-845-0541.

MountainXpress: Henderson County launches post-overdose response team

08/28/2020

Henderson County has received a 2020 Local Government Federal Credit Union Excellence in Innovation Award from the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners.

The award-winning program was developed as a result of the Henderson County Board of Commissioner’s 2019 Substance Use Task Force, in partnership with the Henderson County Department of Public Health, the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office, and The Free Clinics. It was created to address substance abuse disorder within individuals in the county detention center and implement a plan for treatment during and after their release.

“The Free Clinics is honored… to be part of this successful collaborative project to provide person-centered care for the inmates of our county detention center,” said TFC Executive Director Judith Long.

We are proud and inspired by our Patient Health Advocate Tina LaFoy’s efforts, with the rest of the Detention Center team, to make this program truly impactful to the health and well-being of our neighbors in need there.

Read more at the Hendersonville Lightning HERE.

08/03/2020

(Hendersonville, NC)….30 March 2020…. The Free Clinics urgently seeks community partners to help us care for some of our most vulnerable neighbors. TFC remains open to care for our community, but we are adjusting our services in order to keep patients safe and healthy during the pandemic. One of the changes is that TFC’s group visits (providing medical and behavioral health services for its most vulnerable patients) are moving to a virtual format.

While most TFC clients have smart phones, obtained through special programs for the homeless and economically disadvantaged, they do not have internet access.

TFC asks Hendersonville’s centrally located church and business partners to consider enabling their guest Wi-Fi connections for a specific two hour window once or twice per week so that TFC clients can access their group visits from your parking lots or church/business grounds. The needed days and times are:

• Monday for Noon Group (11:30 am – 1:30 pm)
• Tuesday for 1:30 pm Group (1:00 – 3:00 pm)
• Thursday for Noon Group (11:30 am – 1:30 pm); 3:00 pm Group (2:30 – 4:30 pm); 4:00 pm Group (3:30 – 5:30 pm). 

If you are willing to assist TFC in helping to care for our most vulnerable neighbors during this very challenging time, we would be extremely grateful. We ask that you please call Executive Director Judith Long at 828.697.8422 or email her at info@thefreeclinics-org.us.stackstaging.com as soon as possible so that we can inform our patients of their options and continue their care.

TFC also seeks the community’s support. These are challenging times for all of us, especially our neighbors without homes, those living with behavioral health challenges, those who are surviving interpersonal violence. As TFC works to care for our vulnerable neighbors, we are in need of cotton cloth masks, as well as financial support. To make a donation, visit thefreeclinics.org/donate  or call 828.697.8422. To provide cloth masks, please contact Cathy Montgomery, Clinical Services Director at the same number. Checks or masks can also be delivered to The Free Clinics at 841 Case Street, Hendersonville NC, 28792.  Please help us care for our community by keeping our most vulnerable neighbors safe and healthy.

The Free Clinics is changing lives together, with hope and health. Established in 2001, TFC partners with over 230 volunteers and 179 community health care providers to ensure quality, accessible care for over 2,000 of our uninsured, low-income neighbors in Henderson and Polk Counties. TFC programming employs a person-centered model to address acute and chronic conditions, mental and behavioral health, medication access, and other barriers to health for the most vulnerable among us.

03/30/2020

(Hendersonville, NC)….29 January 2020…. The Free Clinics (TFC) was recently announced one of Pisgah Health Foundation’s inaugural grant recipients, receiving an award of $75,000 for its diabetes program. 

The grant enables TFC to transform its long-standing diabetes program into a comprehensive drop-in group visit model, based on its award-winning Bridges to Health program, to serve Henderson and Polk Counties’ most vulnerable persons with diabetes. The model allows TFC to serve as the patient’s primary care provider, with multiple health specialists present at each diabetes group visit, including a medical provider, behavioral health specialist, nurse, occupational therapist, health educator, patient health advocate, and clinical pharmacist. 

The new program will debut on Thursday, February 13, 2020.

Hannah Parks, TFC’s Diabetes Nurse Case Manager, says, “I think the program meets a real need that the community has to integrate diabetes care with a really knowledgeable team. The extra piece that we offer is the compassion, and the benefit of the group visit model and that peer support.”

Dr. Steven Crane, TFC’s Volunteer Medical Director and creator of the original Bridges to Health program, says of the changes, “Among the most important insights we learned from 10 years of our Bridges program is that support and advice from others like you who are in the process of making similar changes is a critical component of success.  The group visit model, which has been so successful in helping patients recover from trauma, homelessness, addiction, and hopelessness, is the perfect model for patients who have struggled unsuccessfully to get control of their diabetes.”

Parks adds, “I have hope about how the group dynamic will work with managing a chronic illness that is often very isolating. With diabetes you’re potentially checking your blood sugar at every meal, it messes up everything that you enjoy about food and interferes with your family and life, so I’m curious to see how being in a group setting works—what impact it has when patients can see, You’re not alone, you have support.”

The Free Clinics is actively seeking new, uninsured patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes or prediabetes to join the group.

For more information about the Diabetes program at The Free Clinics please contact Diabetes Case Manager Hannah Parks, RN at 828.697.8422 or hparks@thefreeclinics-org.us.stackstaging.com. 

The Free Clinics is changing lives together, with hope and health. Established in 2001, TFC partners with over 220 volunteers and 179 community health care providers to ensure quality, accessible care for over 2,000 of our uninsured, low-income neighbors in Henderson and Polk Counties. TFC programming employs a person-centered model to address acute and chronic conditions, mental and behavioral health, medication access, and other barriers to health for the most vulnerable among us. To learn more, visit www.thefreeclinics.org.

The Pisgah Health Foundation is a public 501(c)(3) charity founded in 2019, by a board of seven caring individuals focused on improving the health, wellness and lives of western North Carolina residents. The organization evolved out of the Transylvania Regional Hospital Foundation. Pisgah Health Foundation’s drive is to improve health and wellness by addressing healthy opportunities in targeted social determinants of health areas including Health, Food Insecurity, Housing, Social Cohesion and Education. Board Members include Cathleen Blanchard; Dave Neumann, Esq.; Jamie Ramsey, MD; Jeremy Purcell; Art Fisher; Jim Tyson, MD; Jim Wright, MD. Lex Green, CPA serves as President. To learn more, please visit www.pisgahhealthfoundation.org.

1/30/2020