'Trying to close that gap': Goodwill works to expand downtown healthcare options

It could be substance abuse addict who has hit rock bottom and is ready for help.

Or maybe a homeless person suffering from a medical condition, or someone who's caught up in the perils of human trafficking and looking for help.

They can find it at Horizon Goodwill Industries at 200 N. Prospect St. in Hagerstown, which has added medical services there and planning to ultimately open a grocery store inside the cavernous facility to help a surrounding low-income, underserved community.

It's all part of a plan to lift up people and hopefully give them a better quality of life, according to Brooke Grossman, chief mission officer for Horizon Goodwill Industries as well as a Democrat who also represents the city in the House of Delegates in the Maryland General Assembly.

She was a among a number of local Horizon Goodwill Industries representatives, Meritus Health officials, state authorities and others who gathered at the Goodwill facility Thursday afternoon to help celebrate the beginning of The Community Health Hub in the building.

How does the clinic work?

It's a place where people in need can get access to health care, even if they don't have a way to pay for it, Grossman said. The object is to get people the attention they need, then figure out the money part.

"No appointment necessary," added Allen Twigg, executive director of behavioral and community health for Meritus Health, which is helping Goodwill with the operation.

If patients have insurance, the clinic will process claims. But for people who don't have insurance, office staff will help them obtain it, possibly through Medicaid, Grossman said.

Previously: New grocery store on the way to Hagerstown's core; aims to ease 'food desert'

The medical services are being added to everything else Horizon Goodwill already offers, like job training, housing help and youth programs, in an attempt to keep people off the streets or showing them how to raise their own food.

And there's free breakast.

Every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, Goodwill offers a free breakfast to anyone who wants it. And maybe somebody there might be convinced it would be a good idea to head onto the clinic after they eat to get their blood pressure checked, said Grossman.

"It's a point to start a relationship," said Grossman, explaining that it can be the link to get people the help they need if they're in a dire situation.

How long has the clinic been open?

Construction inside the building to establish the medical offices began about a year ago and the clinic has been up and running since February. Much of Thursday's ceremonies were geared toward showing Maryland Community Health Resources Commission members the progress so far, according to Grossman. A ribbon-cutting was planned for later in the day.

The commission provided the hub with close to $1 million over the next three years to run it as a pilot project, she said.

Dental and mental health services are also available, and local mental health provider Brook Lane is also a partner.

The grocery store being planned in the building is designed to help address a food desert in the neighborhood, which is defined by the United States Department of Agriculture as an area with limited access to supermarkets, super centers, grocery stores or other sources of healthy and affordable food. The idea is that if people are offered more healthy food options, it helps lift the quality of life for the whole city.

Goodwill officials said previously that the store could arrive as early as 2022, but now it looks like it will be 2024, said Nick Kline, vice president of mission advancement for Horizon Goodwill.

Kline said the store will happen "one hundred percent" but work is still ongoing for funding support.

Regarding free health care in the city, the Community Free Clinic operates on Mill Street. But that's across town and can be tough for some people to get to if they don't have adequate transportation, said Grossman.

And one of the complaints often heard from people wanting to get help from drug addiction and other ills is that they have to criss-cross through town visiting various agencies in an attempt to put together a plan of survival.

"We're trying to close that gap and make it as easy as possible," Grossman said.

Twigg said Meritus Health is helping The Community Health Hub with its operations, such as providing it with a nurse practitioner.

"It's a model that we think can be replicated in other areas," said Kline.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Horizon Goodwill Industries in Hagerstown adds healthcare clinic