GraceMed Health Clinic is a Christ-centered, non-profit community health center that provides access to affordable quality health care for the residents of south central Kansas. Its goal is to provide high quality health care services for uninsured and underinsured residents in Wichita and the surrounding areas. GraceMed’s mission is to show and share the love of Jesus Christ by providing compassionate, accessible, high-quality health care for those who are in need.
“We currently have eight Wichita locations with three more scheduled to ‘go live’ this year,” said David Sanford, CEO of GraceMed Health Clinic. “We are also planning expansions to McPherson and Topeka as well,” Sanford said.
Seven of the eight health centers that are currently serving patients provide both medical and dental care, while the Good Samaritan Clinic, located at 3701 E. 13 St. in Wichita, is primarily a medical healthcare center. Each of the eight healthcare centers are open Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with one exception being the Mother Mary Anne Clinic located at 1131 S. Clifton, which is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Friday and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.
These health centers provide patients with the same medical attention they would receive at a larger health care facility or dentist clinic. Medical services include: well-child visits, immunizations, physicals, illness and disease management, prescription management and referrals to other community services for specialized care. Patients needing special medical attention such as oncology treatment are able to find the proper care through various partners in the medical community that have established relationships with GraceMed.
GraceMed also has the largest oral health care outreach program for preventive care and a full scope of restorative care including advanced dentistry operating in Kansas. Covering 15 south central Kansas counties, GraceMed provides preventative dental services for children in Head Start centers, low-income public and parochial schools and for seniors residing in assisted living centers and nursing homes. The dental clinics provide patients with cleanings, fillings, extractions, root canals, crowns, bridges and dentures.
In 2014, GraceMed provided care through 83,908 patient visits for 34,279 unduplicated patients. The majority of GraceMed’s patients are fully employed, however they do not have employer-based health insurance because either they or their employer cannot afford the high cost of health insurance premiums. Low-income families in our community often view healthcare as a low priority until it becomes absolutely necessary.
Each health clinic is open for volunteers and financial donations. Donations are used to supplement the cost of care to people that are under a hundred percent of federal poverty level and don’t have any insurance. People who do not have health insurance or have it but are underinsured are charged for services on a sliding scale based on their household income.
“If you were to walk in here and say that you don’t have any insurance but you need to make an appointment, we would ask you to provide proof-of-income and let us know how many members are in your household,” Sanford said. “Based on that information we would put your fees on a slide.”
For example if someone is an established patient at GraceMed and wants to meet with one of the physicians, it would cost them approximately $25.
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Quick info on GraceMed Clinics |
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Dodge Family Clinic: 4910 W. 1st St Downing Family Clinic at Gordon Parks Academy: 2201 E. 25th St. N, Bldg. 200 Evergreen Family Clinic: 1125 W. 26th St. N. Good Samaritan Clinic: 3701 E. 13 St. Healthy Family Clinic: 1905 S. Laura St. Oaklawn Family Clinic: 5000 S. Clifton Ave., Suite 200 Topeka Street Clinic: 1122 N Topeka Hours for all above: Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mother Mary Anne Clinic: 1131 S. Clifton Hours for this location: Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.-8 p.m., Sat., 1 p.m.-5 p.m. |
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See the locations on a map of Wichita. For appointments at any location, call 316-866-2000. |
“The actual average cost for that visit is $150, and so somewhere, somehow we have to come up with the balance of funds to cover that cost,” Sanford said. “We do that a number of ways but one of the ways is we allocate the funds that come from the Great Plains United Methodist Conference to really help cover that difference in the cost versus the charge the patient pays.”
GraceMed Health Clinic is one of 22 mission agencies that have a connection with the Great Plains United Methodist Conference which is able to support these various organizations by allocating the money raised from individual churches that donate one percent of their income. In 2014, the Great Plains United Methodist Conference gave $46,012 to GraceMed to help continue its mission of providing compassionate, affordable, high quality medical and dental care to those who are truly in need.
“Our greatest mission here at GraceMed is to not only provide affordable, high quality medical and dental care to our patients, but to also build relationships with our patients in order to bring them to Christ,” Sanford said.
This news story is from Jan. 2014. The GraceMed Clinic at Oaklawn Elementary is now open.
Story written by Marcus Wright, intern for communications at the Great Plains Conference
Photos provided by GraceMed
Video from KSN and GraceMed