Central Florida Health Care opens 13th location in Polk County
Davenport is the newest location for a clinic run by Central Florida Health Care, a non-profit organization that provides affordable healthcare to the uninsured and under-insured.
A ribbon cutting was held Aug. 24 at 130 Ridge Center Drive in Davenport. The new location is the 13th in Polk County and overall it is the 15th CFHC location in Florida, a press release said.
"We don't turn anybody away for services so anybody can use our clinics for healthcare," Ann Claussen, CEO of CFHC said in a recent phone interview. "We serve all people of all ages."
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The brand new Davenport facility provides medical, dental, pediatrics, ob-gyn, and pharmaceutical services for anyone in need of care, regardless of their ability to pay.
The organization also offers a social worker on site to help with financial assistance and other needs.
In addition to the 13 community health centers in Polk County, there are also single locations in Highlands and Hardee counties.
“What began with one doctor and one nurse in Frostproof, Florida is now a flourishing non-profit organization with more than 500 employees,” the release said. The organization is celebrating its 50th year of providing “Health Care with a Heart.”
The first clinic served families at the Frostproof Minute Maid facility and later the Coca Cola plant with one doctor and one nurse, Claussen said.
Before the November of 2016 ballot item to renew the county's half-cent indigent health care sales tax, the county said the tax generates $35 million to $40 million every year.
The tax will remain in place until 2045, and was first voter approved in 2004.
As of 2016, the money had helped around 43,000 people receive health care services through the county’s Polk HealthCare plan and through its community partners such as CFHC and others.
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CFHC also has mobile clinics
The CFHC also has mobile clinics and helps feed thousands of families at 10 different food distribution sites. The mobile clinics helped distribute COVID vaccines and boosters in partnerships with local churches, which included about 22,000 COVID tests being administered.
The clinical sites are partially funded by the federal government and also relies on community partnerships, including those with the United Way of Central Florida, the George W. Jenkins End Hunger initiative, Freedom Tours, and Feeding Tampa Bay, the release said.
Due to the growth in Polk County, the group said there are plans to expand the Frostproof, Lakeland and Winter Haven Community Health Center locations in the future.
Founded in 1972, Central Florida Health Care is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization serving the Polk, Highlands, and Hardee communities. Its patients include elderly with fixed incomes and Medicare, migrant workers and the homeless, among other low-income workers.
Paul Nutcher can be reached at pnutcher@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Medical care for indigent opens 13th location in Polk County
