HopeHealth: 'Nobody is turned away here'

FLORENCE — HopeHealth is a community health center, and the medical needs of the community are growing every day.

AT A GLANCE

Name: HopeHealth
Established: 1991
Address: 600 E. Palmetto St., Florence
CEO: Carl M. Humphries, MSW
Employees: 88
Specialty: Community health care
Web: www.Hope-health.org

The mission of HopeHealth is to increase access to comprehensive primary and preventative health care and to improve the health status of underserved and vulnerable populations in the community.
“We are a community health center, and we’re here to provide health care to all people in the Pee Dee,” Margaret Love, of HopeHealth, said. “Nobody is turned away here. Underinsured, not insured — it doesn’t matter. Everyone who comes here will receive care and will be treated with dignity and respect.”

HopeHealth began as a support group in 1991 and eventually grew to its present-day role as a multi-regional health organization caring for 12 counties. The organization serves the Pee Dee, Edisto and Lower Savannah regions from its offices in Florence, Orangeburg and Aiken.

Although best known statewide for its HIV/AIDS programs and services, HopeHealth is a federally qualified and funded community health center. Patients of all ages and backgrounds who don’t have a primary healthcare physician come to HopeHealth daily to receive whatever medical services they might need.

“We want those who don’t have medical care to become regular patients that we see on a regular basis for preventative services as well as anything else they might need,” Love said. “We do screenings of all kinds. We have prescription drug assistance programs for those who can’t afford medication. We offer educational sessions for diabetes and high blood pressure. And we also offer HIV/AIDS prevention, outreach and treatment. The list of services goes on and on.”

Most of HopeHealth’s patients are not insured, underinsured or on Medicare or Medicaid. Those who have no insurance are treated regardless, and fees are assessed on a sliding scale according to family size and salary.

“We’re never going to turn anyone away,” Love said. “If a person only has $10 or $20, we’ll work with them. Our goal is to provide care to anyone who needs it.”

The needs of the community have grown substantially. In 2007, HopeHealth provided for 700 patients. Today, the center’s medical provides care for more than 3,000. The center also houses its own medical lab and pharmacy. Because of the increase in patients, HopeHealth will build a 3,100-square-foot addition to its current center.

“With the current economy, we have seen an explosion of uninsured patients,” Love said. “Each insured person who walks through the door helps pay for an uninsured, and that gap is getting tighter and tighter and harder to fill.”

With possible cuts in federal and state funding looming, fundraisers and donations have become that much more important, Love said. HopeHealth’s main yearly fundraisers are Dining with Stars, Dining With Friends, HopeHealth Wine Tasting and AIDSWALK.

Dining With Friends, which is right around the corner, asks people to host dinner parties for friends in their homes to raise money for HIV/AIDS programs. The format is left up to the host, and then all participants meet in a central location for a finale party.

“We need people to get involved with these fundraisers like Dining With Friends,” Love said. “That money will go to help fund programs that we might lose otherwise if we don’t get the state and federal funding that we’ve been getting. We want to be able to keep all our programs and add these services that are so needed. Our motto has become, ‘Let our family help your family,’ and we hope to be doing that for a long time.”