Lake County Free Clinic

Programs: Lcfc provides diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic medical conditions as well as physical exams for work or school. In addition, lcfc provides tooth extraction for adults. In 2016, lcfc provided care to 1,105 individual patients. Patient visits totaled 3,533, and in all, more than 20,000 individual services were provided to patients - these services include medical and dental visits, lab work, prescriptions medication, referrals to specialists, etc. Lcfc is the sole free clinic in northeast ohio. As such, we are constantly met with more demand for care than we can accommodate. The affordable care act has allowed many of our former patients to obtain insurance and connect with a different provider through that insurance. However, the aca has not provided everyone with insurance, nor has it provided all those with insurance with actual care. More than 16,000 in lake county alone remain uninsured due to a variety of factors, and others are insured but unable to use insurance because of prohibitive costs of deductibles, co-insurance, co-pays, or a combination of those. For many, many people in our community, availability of health insurance has not equaled access to health care. The demand for lcfc services remains high despite the expansion of medicaid under the aca; to the contrary, requests for appointments at lcfc remain high with scheduling a week or two out for current or new appointments. Lcfc operates with a paid staff of nine (three full-time and six full-time, totaling five ftes). More than 50 active volunteers are involved in providing care to patients and filing other roles that help the clinic function. In 2017, volunteers provided a total of 2,564 hours (an in-kind value of 125,000), volunteers are a significant multiplierin value of service rpovided by lcfc. In recognition of the clinic's work being as effective as it is efficient, lcfc was honored to be named ohio's free clinic of the year for 2016 by the ohio department of health. Lcfc's patients range in age from infants to over 90; most are employed, though more than 75% had household incomes at or below the federal poverty level. Our patients are 59% female and 41% male. 59% of our patients are caucasion, 6% are african american, and 2% comprise asian, native american, multi-racial, or self-described "other,- and 33% of lcfc's patients are of hispanic ethnicity. For the services offered at lcfc, there are few alternatives in this community for those who are un- or under-insured. Lcfc is an essential component in the health care delivery system, and without this clinic many, many people would go without the care they need which, in turn, would cause undue burden on emergency rooms and prevent people from being active members of their work, school, and family lives.