SILOAM SPRINGS — The Community Clinic is expanding a prenatal care program into this western Benton County city. A $75,000 gift will open access to care for uninsured women through Prenatal Pathways.
The grant presentation was made Tuesday at the Community Clinic Siloam Springs Medical’s new location at 500 S. Mount Olive St.
The donation came from the Beau Foundation, founded by Gwen and Terry Matthews in memory of their late son, Beau Alexander Matthews.
Beau only lived a few days, but his parents were moved by what they saw and learned during that time. They wanted to do something to honor the neonatal unit of Northwest Medical Center in Springdale.
Gwen said they had thought in terms of rocking chairs or maybesome equipment for the unit, but Dr. Scott Bailey, their obstetrician, said that wasn’t the most needed item.
He told the couple the greatest need was for more women to receive prenatal care.
At the time, one in fi ve pregnant women in the area were not getting prenatal care. Gwen and Terry Matthews started the nonprofit Beau Foundation to change that statistic.
Kathy Grisham, Community Clinic’s executive director, said the couple “turned a tragedy into a way to help others.”
The Beau Foundation is all volunteer, Terry Matthews said. Through an annual fundraising luncheon and golf tournament, it has raised more than $1 million in the past fi ve years to help with prenatal care.
“This has exceeded my expectations ... more than I could ever dream,” Gwen Matthews said.
The mom was featured in this month’s issue of Redbook magazine under the heading “Redbook Heroes” and the headline “Providing prenatal care for all moms.”
Grisham from the Community Clinic noted that the women who see a health-care provider regularly during pregnancy have healthier babies, are less likely to deliver prematurely and are less likely to have other serious problems related to pregnancy.
The Community Clinic, a health-care ministry of St. Francis House NWA, was founded in 1989. Its stated mission: “to provide a medical home for our low-income and uninsured neighbors in Northwest Arkansas, offering affordable, quality primary and preventive care in order to build a stronger and healthier community forall.”
Prenatal Pathways is a grassroots partnership of Community Clinic and health-care providers in Northwest Arkansas, providing uninsured women with quality prenatal services, including prenatal vitamins. The Beau Foundation has provided grants for the clinic’s Prenatal Pathways work in Springdale, Rogers and now Siloam Springs.
Grisham said 1,800 women have been served through the program this past year.
The number is expected to be higher now that the Siloam Springs area is being served, but Grisham said,“We’re not making predictions of how large that will be.”
The Community Clinic Siloam Springs Medical location just opened this past week.
As a community health center, the clinic asks patients to pay on an income-based sliding fee scale. No one is turned away, regardless of insurance status or ability to pay. Community Clinic accepts ARKids First, Medicaid, Medicare and most thirdparty insurance.
Our Town, Pages 13 on 12/27/2009