Spotlight: Health Partners Free Clinic Q: Health Partners Free Clinic was founded in 1998, what was your mission when you first opened your doors? And how does that compare to your mission now 25 years later? A: When Health Partners was founded, our mission was to provide free health care for the uninsured. It has not changed much, but has expanded a bit. Our current mission is to provide free, high quality health care for the uninsured, under-insured and underserved.
Q: How many employees/volunteers does Health Partners have? A: We have 10 employees, and around 20 volunteers. Q: What challenges has Health Partners had to face and overcome? A Covid, of course, was a hard thing; it changed lives and prevented people from spending time together, which altered our volunteerism and patient volume. We are now looking for new volunteers and we are accepting new patients.
Q: What are Health Partners long-term goals? A: It would be great if we were no longer needed; but overall, we would love to continue to execute our mission. We want to continue to provide high quality health care to those who need it and always do more as long as the need is there. I feel like we are succeeding in what we are supposed to be doing.
Q: What has been something that has been most rewarding for you while at Health Partners Free Clinic? A: Removing barriers. When you can take someone that feels that they’re in such a difficult place (i.e., sick, run down, don’t have any revenue, and/or don’t have anything they need), and you help stabilize them and remove the barriers, so they get the care they need, it is incredibly rewarding. It’s great to see the look on their face when we can give them what they need and tell them that they don’t owe anything. I’m grateful for what we do and the joy that we give back.
