The Free Clinics (TFC) provides quality healthcare for uninsured, low-income clients in Henderson and Polk Counties. There will be a Saluda reception, Sunday, October 8 from 4 – 6 p.m. at the Saluda Senior Center, 64 Greenville Street in Saluda to update guests on TFC’s services and programs that serve Polk County residents.

The event is free, and there will be hors d’oeuvres and a beer and wine bar. The public is invited and RSVPs are encouraged by September 29. The event is hosted by TFC staff and local residents Reeda Ward and Pat Sandahl, along with her husband, Ward.

The Free Clinics, which provided 19,500 patient visits for 1,700 low-income, uninsured residents in 2016, delivers its services and programs through 23 clinical and community health programs and services, and the help of 170 healthcare partners and more than 200 clinical and nonclinical volunteers.  TFC is a dynamic, innovative, award-winning community healthcare organization that provides $8.50 of healthcare for our neighbors in need for every $1 raised.

In Polk County, where 14 percent of the residents live in poverty and 20 percent of adults, 18 – 64, have no health insurance, TFC has been making a significant difference in the local healthcare environment since 2012.  In that time there has been a 521 percent increase in the number of Polk County residents served, and in 2016 TFC provided 174 Polk patients almost $650,000 in free prescriptions, and enabled access to specialty care and/or diagnostic services for 112 Polk County residents.

Pat Sandahl, TFC MediFind director is “proud to be a part of The Free Clinics and to bring our Prescription Assistance Program to low income, uninsured residents of Polk County.”

According to Reeda Ward, TFC pharmacy technician “I know first-hand the dilemma a person faces when they are forced to pick and choose which of their medications they can afford.  The Free Clinics has made a tremendous difference to people who are my neighbors.”

Additional Polk County receptions are planned for Tryon and Columbus in the next several months.

To RSVP or for more information about the Saluda reception please contact Mary Patrick at 828-697-8422 or mpatrick@thefreeclinics.org.    

The Free Clinics was established in 2001 and enhances the healthcare system in Henderson and Polk Counties to ensure the accessibility of quality healthcare for uninsured, low-income clients.  The Free Clinics works with volunteers and partnering healthcare providers to provide healthcare, prevention, education, medication access, and case management services, including specialty referrals.

– submitted by Jim Faucett