People's City Mission Free Medical Clinic Celebrates its First Anniversary

Source: Lincoln Chamber of Commerce Website

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 5 P.M. CST, July 27, 2010

Contact: Will Hays Phone: (402) 817-0956 Email:

Lincoln, NE – The People’s City Mission is proud to announce the first Anniversary of its FREE Medical Clinic.

To celebrate this milestone, the People’s City Mission will host an Open House for the FREE Medical Clinic on July 29th at 3pm until 7pm at the Medical Clinic at 401 N. 2nd Street (right behind the PCM Shelter at 110 Q St.). There will be an address by Executive Director, Pastor Tom Barber, at 4pm and tours beginning at 4:30pm. Refreshments will be served.

A year ago the People’s City Mission (PCM) saw that Lincoln had a problem. There were close to 30,000 uninsured people living in Lincoln or Lancaster County and these people struggle to find adequate health care. It could take four to ten weeks for low income, uninsured people to see a doctor at existing medical providers.

That is why on July 14, 2009 The People’s City Mission opened it’s FREE Medical Clinic. Staffed with three employees, in what once was the men’s shelter only a few years before, the People City Mission was determined to make a difference in the lives of the uninsured poor of Lincoln.

With only three people on staff, volunteerism was a necessary component. In its first year, the clinic has been blessed with nearly 200 medical field volunteers that helped us provide comprehensive medical care including general care, cardiology, dermatology, neurology, chiropractic, physical therapy, dentistry, optometry, counseling and much more.

After one year of service, the People’s City Mission’s Free Medical Clinic has performed 8,221 patient visits on 3,667 patients! And all of this came with not one dollar in government assistance. The Free Medical Clinic is completely funded by the public through donations.

The public is invited and strongly urged to attend to celebrate this accomplishment, to learn more about how PCM was able to make this happen and to hear stories from lives touched by this outreach.

Facts related to poverty and the uninsured:

  • 74% of homeless and near-homeless men did not have a regular physician 2
  • Top barriers to receiving health care were cost of service (70%), and cost of medication (51%) 2
  • 23% used the emergency room as their primary source for health services 2
  • 29,350 (13.7%) Lancaster County adults went without healthcare because of the cost in 2009 3
  • More than 1 in 5 Nebraskans earning less than 200%of the Federal Poverty Level had no health insurance 6
  • 14% of uninsured Nebraskans did not get needed care in the past year 6
  • 70.8% of those without insurance are employed 4
  • 9.9% of Nebraskans had no healthcare coverage in 2009 (up from 9.2% in 2000) 5
  • 1 in 4 Nebraskans were without coverage during part of 2008. 5
  • Those most likely to lack access to health care in Nebraska include: 6
  • Single heads of households with children under age 5
  • Children (21% of uninsured)
  • Single adults under age 65
  • Minorities (29% not covered)

References:

1. Assessment of the Safety net in Lincoln, March 2004

2. Blueprint Project, 2002

3. Lancaster Co Health Dept 2009 Adult Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)

4. Nebraska Health Information Survey Vol. 6 Issue 1, 2006

5. Families USA Foundation Report, 2009

6. UNMC Dept. of Preventive & Societal Medicine’s Nebraska Center for Rural Health Research, Dec. 2004.

The People’s City Mission was started in 1907 by local churches, offering food and shelter for transient and impoverished men, women and children. In 1987, PCM moved to the current location, with expansions in 2002 and 2007 to accommodate more people and provide more security, and now houses 350 men, women and children each night in the emergency shelters and the Curtis Center transitional housing program. The Mission Distribution Center opened in 1990 as our primary distribution point for free food, clothing, household items, furniture, toys, and personal care items. The PCM Medical Clinic opened in July 2009 to provide free medical, dental, vision, and behavioral health care to low-income Lincoln residents without medical insurance. PCM has maintained non-profit status since 1934. In 2009, the People’s City Mission helped 23,238 people in Lincoln/Lancaster County.

PCM was recently awarded with a “Four Star” rating from Charity Navigator for the fifth year in a row! Less than 5% of all non-profits around the country have achieved this distinction. This rating is based on how well non-profit organizations utilize their resources and how much of a donor’s contribution is actually spent on the need being addressed and not administrative or fundraising costs. In 2008, PCM was able to use 93.2% of its donations on the needs of the less fortunate they serve. This places PCM in the top 1% of all charities in the country in regards to their financial efficiency.