Community clinic marks 30 years of service to region

Nov. 13—Founders and supporters of the Community Clinic of Southwest Missouri gathered recently at the clinic's office at the corner of Seventh Street and Joplin Avenue to celebrate 30 years of service to Joplin and the surrounding region.

Stephanie Brady, executive director, said a recent ribbon-cutting ceremony was a chance to reflect on the clinic's beginnings and how far things have come since 1993 for the clinic that provides a wide range of health care, dental care and mental health services, especially for those in need.

"Whenever we started, we were only providing primary care. We really couldn't handle those patients who needed a cardiologist or pediatricians or all those additional needs that people have," Brady said. "We started in the Presbyterian Church downtown, and we were there for about eight years. We've been in this location for about 22 years. Moving here to this location meant being able to expand those services that really impacted the patients. They got continuity of care, they were able to make sure that just instead of just primary care that they got all of their care here."

Birth of an idea

Dr. Charles Bentlage, a founder of the clinic, reminisced about its origin.

"The beginnings were very humble," Bentlage said. "It became obvious to me when I came to practice in Joplin in 1970, after having served in the Air Force, that there was a definite need for access to care for people who did not have insurance or a means of paying for their health care. Several other people, mostly in the health care industry, noticed the same thing, and in the early 1990s we began to meet on a regular basis to discuss the possibility of having a free clinic in Joplin."

Bentlage said the founders saw a model in a Springfield clinic called The Kitchen, which started operations 10 years before and continues to operate today.

He said a nurse and volunteer, Nancy Walkenhorst, helped arrange for the clinic to operate every Wednesday out of the activities building at the First Presbyterian Church at 509 N. Pearl Ave.

"So every Wednesday we would set up for the clinic and we would see patients, and after the clinic we would put things back in order again as we had found them," Bentlage said. "In 1999, when the clinic was functioning well and still looking for a permanent place ... and there was a lead article in the Sunday Joplin Globe telling of the accomplishments of the Community Clinic and the need for a permanent building. ... I happened to be president of the board at that time and Joe Berger (owner of Pearl Brothers Hardware Store) contacted me and said he wanted to give this building at 701 Joplin street to the Community Clinic, and that transfer happened."

Bentlage said the group spent several months renovating the building into a clinic and started seeing patients in its current office in 2000.

"In my opinion, the Community Clinic has survived because it is exactly what its name says — it is a clinic for the community, and there have been so many people who have donated generously of their time and talent, a lot of them in the medical profession but a lot of others who are not in the medical profession," Bentlage said.

Expanding careBrady said the clinic has steadily expanded its services in the 23 years since it gained a permanent home.

"We have a women's health services program today that we only started about six years ago, and we've already found women through that who didn't know they had breast cancer, they didn't know they had cervical cancer," she said. "Moving here to this location meant being able to expand those services (that) really impacted the patients."

She said it might surprise some people that the clinic serves more than just the poor.

"We have served over 100,000 people since we started 30 years ago, and we average about 2,000 people every year who get their care here," Brady said. "A lot of people think we're providing care to the poorest of the poor. We definitely serve that population, but over 80% of our patients are actually the working poor. They make too much money for Missouri Medicaid, they can't afford marketplace insurance, and they're really just stuck in that coverage gap."

Linda Dean, a registered nurse who has volunteered at the clinic for years, said the experience is uplifting.

"You're helping people be the best they can be," Dean said. "There's no way they could find the resources that we find for them. We have patients that coming here is truly the difference between life and death. This place humbled me a lot. This clientele is very humbling because those of us who were raised middle class had everything we needed and most of what we wanted, and took it for granted. We never really understood what happens to somebody whose parents were mentally ill and maybe they're mentally ill and they don't speak English, or they don't read or don't write.

"I have always said that regardless of how tired you are when you come to work at the community clinic, volunteering your time, regardless of how bad you might feel when you get here, it's uplifting to be here. You feel better when you leave than when you came."