BRYAN, Texas — The pandemic has brought to light the importance of having adequate health care.
One local non-profit is on a mission to do just that.
This clinic is on a mission to break down barriers people may face while trying to get healthy.
It all began 35 years ago.
”It’s an organic story of how we started," said Liz Dickey, the executive director for Health for All. "A local physician Dr. Haji, his sister actually owned a motel in downtown Bryan and had a guest that was staying there who needed stitches,”
Next thing he knew he’s running a clinic from the motel. The need was so overwhelming, now the Health For All clinic supports the seven counties in the Brazos Valley.
”We really are a safety net for a group that doesn’t have anywhere else to go so we are a free clinic that sees patients that are not eligible for other programs, they don’t have insurance,” Dickey shared.
The clinic runs solely on donations and volunteers to provide adequate healthcare for the uninsured.
”All of our medical providers are volunteers they have day jobs or they're recently retired and they just give up their time because they have a heart for the service and they believe in what we’re doing,” said Dickey.
The clinic has many community partners who help make it all possible. One of those partnerships allows students from Texas A&M in the medical field to volunteer their time to gain educational experience.
“We do what we can to ensure that we’re balancing getting our patients the breath of care that they need and getting the students access to actual patients and hands-on learning,” Dickey added.
The clinic is a one-stop shop, providing patients with everything they’ll need from their visit under one roof.
“We have pre-stocked generic medications the doctors can come and pull from for our diabetic patients or for our hypertensive patients," said Dickey. "They can make sure that there’s one less barrier to getting our patient's the health care they need,”
Many difficulties have come along the way especially with the pandemic, but then they’re reminded of the impact they're making in people's lives.
“This is our wall of gratitude so as you can imagine there are days that are difficult with the work we do and this is a place when it gets hard you can come and remind yourself why we do what we do,” Dickey expressed.
Overall health includes nutrition, health for all has also partnered with the Brazos valley food bank to provide patients with nutritional care packages to take home after their visit.