Bethesda Health Clinic

The ultimate goal of the clinic is to empower our patients to play an active role in their health care so ultimately they live healthier, more productive lives. The clinic does this by addressing the underlying medical issues of obesity along with the more debilitating medical problems such as diabetes, hypertension and poor dental care. The clinic works through both medical case managers and social workers to help track the progress of our patients as well as those who are not achieving success. The goal is to partner with our local non profits and churches to connect the patient to the right resource to allow the patient to actively improve their own situation.

The clinic works with local nonprofits, partnering churches, a large number of medical and office volunteers and a small staff to help make this goal a reality. The clinic begins with quality affordable care by partnering with many different medical groups (currently over 20). Then we utilize over 200 medical volunteers to help expand our number of services including a vast array of specialty services provided predominately by donated medical care. We also utilize a significant number of volunteer nurses, front desk personnel and back office volunteers to help expand services while keeping costs to a minimum.

Next, the clinic employees nursing case managers and social workers to work with the clients while in the clinic to improve their care, especially for those needing additional care and also after the office visits to follow those who need close attention and those not at goal. Many of our patients struggle with social and financial issues so our social worker - along with a team of volunteers - works to help the patients overcome these barriers.

We collaborate with our local churches to find volunteers who can work with patients with chronic disease as well as nutritional issues to help set goals and follow the patients over a course of months to help them meet these goals.

Additionally, we work with our local dental community and have a small dental staff to provide general dental care including periodic dental cleanings.

A new effort we are undertaking is the expansion of our Women's health services. We have added a staff OB/GYN who practices 1 day each week. This has also increased our ability to offer more testing to female patients. We are working with a volunteer physician/consultant to discover other ways to expand this specialized care as well.

The clinic has been blessed with a 12,000 square foot, modern facility to allow for over 18,000 patient visits last year. The clinic has continued to increase the number of patients seen as more volunteers are made available to see patients. Also the community has supported the clinic through donated medical equipment, monetary donations and volunteer time. Generous donors enabled a 2015 building expansion and remodel that has increased exam room space and improved patient flow and care. Continued community support has allowed Bethesda Clinic to have an up to date medical facility that includes modern exam rooms, electronic medical records, digital x-ray for medical and dental services, state of the art dental equipment and first class medical staff. Because of the electronic records, the clinic is able to closely track outcomes and patient progress.

The clinic also partners with 6-8 churches that provide volunteer medical care throughout the year on selected Saturdays. Over 40 churches annually support the clinic with finances and volunteers. These volunteers are critical for patient tracking and support as the patients set specific health goals.

The clinic employees a staff of over 20 part and full time staff. These staff members are some of the best in the community in their field and able to help direct the various programs of the clinic. The clinic is able to partner with and refer patients to more than 20 local medical groups and hospitals to provide the needed specialty care and testing to fully impact this community. The Smith County community continues to financially support the efforts of the clinic to allow us to continue to grow as needs arrive.

Finally, the clinic has always looked at innovative sources for funding. Bethesda has opened a resale thrift store (Hangers of Hope) to provide additional operating funds to the clinic. We also host two major fundraising events each year. Along with these outside sources, patient fees cover approximately 1/3 of the expenses and help as the clinic grows to see more patients. Dental patient fees cover a high percentage of the dental expenses as well.

The clinic continues to make progress toward better healthcare for the working uninsured adults. The outcomes for diabetes remains good with over 50% at goal (above national statistics) and almost 70+% under an unacceptable range. We have learned that controlling this groups diabetes is more than just getting patients medications and labs which is something we have done very well. There are also a lot of social stresses and problems of a lifetime of not setting goals and achieving them. We are working to develop a network of mentors to help patients who would like to set goals, to both help them in setting the goals as well as follow them regularly to be sure they achieve even small goals toward an ultimate step of having them feel fully empowered to continue doing the right steps long term.

The newest challenge has been attempting to get hypertensive patients under control. This group has the least amount of symptoms and generally takes this illness less seriously. We are working to develop some case management tools and also data tracking mechanisms to follow the results. Currently we have near 60% of the patients at their targeted goal. We have hired a person to help with data collection and reporting to help get more up to date information as the year progresses. We have also increased our nutritional classes and include demonstration cooking classes to help patients learn tools to improve their nutrition with items they have at home.

So many of our patients suffer with problems with bad dentition and poor understanding on how to keep their teeth healthy. We have expanded to have 4 1/2 days of dental care and dental hygiene with lots of education with these services. We have begun to get patients to come on more regular basis so that not only is pain and suffering relieved but also able to do some preventative care. We have doubled the size of our dental clinic with a recent building expansion and are able to see many more patients.

The biggest challenges to the program are figuring out the best way to motivate patients to choose healthy lifestyles who are facing such difficult challenges in life, helping patients who are basically without a reason to live, and finally finding funding to continue to expand for a growing number of patients with complicated medical problems. Part of the limited success in our outcomes has to do with patient motivation. We have found more patients through the years trying to do life solo. They have no financial resources, no friends and no specific reason to live. We are trying to approach them by expanding our social work services and utilizing volunteers to call patients with chronic disease regularly. Finding adequate funding sources for programs that generate little income will always be a challenge.