Free medical clinics receive $70,000 grant

HARTSVILLE — The BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation presented a $70,000 grant to the Free Medical Clinic of Darlington County on Friday at Lawton Park in Hartsville.

Harvey Galloway, executive director for the Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina Foundation and native of Hartsville, presented the check to Kathy Baxley, executive director of the Free Medical Clinic.

“It’s great to come back to a home community and see what the people here have been able to do,” Galloway said. “Ya’ll have stepped up, and I commend each one of you.”

The grant will be used for operational support of the clinic’s sites in Darlington and Hartsville.

“This is a great day in the life of the Free Medical Clinic,” said state Rep. Denny Neilson, who served on the first board for the Free Medical Clinic in Darlington 10 years ago.

The Free Medical Clinic of Darlington County serves people ages 19 through 64 who have no private health insurance, who are not eligible for government insurance and who have a household income of 200 percent or less of poverty level. The clientele recently has increased by 50 percent at both sites, with most having lost their jobs in the recent down economy.

“Our free clinic networks are truly outstanding. They do extraordinary work,” Galloway said.

The clinic is one of 40 free medical clinics in South Carolina that ensure the uninsured and underinsured receive help. Twenty-seven of those clinics receive money from the BCBS foundation.

“I’m so proud to be part of a community that’s willing to give back,” state Rep. Jay Lucas said.

“These are the stories that you don’t hear. The good things that are going on where corporate America comes in and helps out rural areas that need some help with their health care delivery system,” state Sen. Gerald Malloy said.

The foundation, created in December 2003, gave out its first grant in 2004. Galloway said free clinics are one of the foundation’s top priorities. The foundation has given the state free medical association funds to study Lee County, which has no free clinics. Unlike Darlington County, there are no people to sustain it for the future, he said.

“An unacceptable number of communities can’t get the services they need,” Galloway said.

Other priorities for the foundation include research, childhood and adolescent health, teen pregnancy rate, mental health, obesity and nursing issues.

“We’ve got a lot of things on our plate,” Galloway said.

One research project in Charleston is trying to build a biological pacemaker by transplanting genes from shark that have the healthiest hearts into mice.

The foundation also gave a $2.5 million grant to create 35 new nursing professors a year, and the S.C. Department of Commerce matched the grant with $2.7 million. Nursing schools turn down 3,000 to 6,000 applicants a year because there aren’t enough professors.

“Without nurses, the medical system would be nothing,” Galloway said. “Doctors are great, but nurses are the backbone.”

Galloway said the foundation is working with the Palmetto Institute on a software package, Benefit Bank. The software does the income taxes for disadvantaged individuals and finds every program they may be eligible for, produces application for enrollment and can submit them electronically. The foundation has made a commitment to fund this, he said. The program is scheduled to roll out in November in free clinics and food banks.

“With these programs, it’ll bring $20 million in federal revenue into the state,” Galloway said.

“This is where the rubber meets the road,” Malloy said. “During these difficult times, the one thing we have to take care of is the people.”

Malloy also used this opportunity to encourage support for increasing the state cigarette tax. The money raised through the tax would go toward insuring more people in the state.

Free clinics are part of the answer in the health care debate and that their efforts go mostly unnoticed, Baxley said. She also described the work of the National Association of Free Clinics, which has brought one-day clinics to areas around the country. She said she is in contact with the group to arrange such an event in Darlington County.

“It takes a lot of humility to receive it (help), but God blesses humility. He honors it,” Baxley said. “And He’s given you this gift because you’re doing everything you can.”

Charity, accountability, responsibility and work ethic are at the heart of the free medical clinics, Baxley said.

“We get to do this. It’s a grace from God to be part of an organization that meets people in the toughest place of their lives,” she said. “I can’t describe to you enough the blessings you receive when you give back.”