ROGERS — Three-year-old Kenneth Davis got a box of goodies and lots of attention Tuesday morning at the Rogers Community Clinic.
The 100,000th new patient for the Community Clinic network played peek-a-boo with nurses and board members, and explored a gift box filled with toys, snacks and gummy bear vitamins. His eyes lit up as he found a box of bandages. His mom, Gisela Davis, laughed as he waved them at her.
“He wants Band-Aids every day on at least two fingers,” she said.
She scheduled check-ups for her two children after visiting the clinic with a relative in November, shortly after moving from Louisiana. The Rogers clinic was close, she said, as she watched Kenneth punch buttons controlling a computer game in the corner.
At A Glance
Community Clinic History
• 2008: Rogers office expands, moves to current Center for Non-Profits location.
• 2009: Siloam Springs medical office expands.
• 2011: Community Clinic opens school-based health centers at Owl Creek Elementary School in Fayetteville and Jones Elementary School in Springdale.
• 2012: Rogers office expands 3,700 square feet and opens 16 more exam rooms.
Plans For Growth In 2013
• Community Clinic Springdale Medical will move family practice to a new site on the same campus, increasing the number of exam rooms for family practice from six to 15. The expansion will also add four work spaces to Springdale Dental.
• Community Clinic will open school-based health centers in the fall at Elmdale and Parson Hills elementary schools in Springdale and Prairie Grove Elementary School.
Source: Community Clinic
The need for low-cost health care has grown in Northwest Arkansas, and the five Community Clinic service sites have grown with it, officials said Tuesday.
There were 85,000 patient visits among the Community Clinic locations in 2011, said Kathy Grisham, executive director. She estimates a final report will show 97,000 clinic visits in 2012.
The Community Clinic’s five sites — in Rogers, Springdale, Siloam Springs and two school-based clinics in Fayetteville and Springdale — offer health care on a sliding scale based on income and household size.
“For many of our patients, that’s a $20 copay,” Grisham said.
The number of people in need of low-cost health care has gone up in the past few years, said Laura Kellams, Northwest Arkansas director of the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.
“We haven’t really been immune to the recession as we have in the past,” Kellams said.
Numbers released by Community Clinic indicate a 102 percent increase in patient volume from 2008 to 2012. In 2008 the combined network of clinics saw 14,527 patients, while in 2012 there were 29,295 patients.
The Community Clinic is a nonprofit organization. As a federally qualified health center, it is supported by the Health Resources and Service Administration. That funding makes up 18 percent of the clinic’s budget, Grisham said. Another 18 percent comes from donations and 64 percent of the budget comes from patient fees.
Although the clinic’s mission is to reach people without insurance or with low incomes, the standard of service is high, Kellams said.
“These are nice clinics,” said Kellams.
The Rogers site is the busiest, Grisham said. Offices were moved to open 16 exam rooms just a few weeks ago. The Rogers site operates 40 exam rooms in 17,700 square feet, Grisham said. Springdale, the second largest campus, has 11,000 square feet of medical and 3,500 square feet of dental space.
The clinic does not offer emergency room care, but does screen people for illness. That can keep people healthier, Grisham said. Affordable health care reduces emergency room visits, a news release from Community Clinic said.
Where uncompensated emergency room visits drive up the cost of insurance, wellness-care and educating people about health risks can save the entire community money, Kellams said.
“It’s just a linchpin of our health care service in our community,” she said.