Free medical clinics that have long been held at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church weren’t curtailed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and sponsor, the Morganton-Mountaintown Baptist Association, wants Gilmer County residents to know the free clinics are still being held at the Ellijay church.
“We really never did stop them. What we did was continue to provide our regular patients their medications during the pandemic. It was like a drive-by (clinic),” said Claude Mathis, a missionary with the Baptist association which includes Pleasant Grove.
By the start of 2021, the association had returned to welcoming patients back inside the church to have such standard tests as blood pressure and glucose done, or see a physician if needed. However, patient turnout hasn’t been as high as it previously was, noted Mathis as he helped with another free clinic in Blue Ridge.
“It’s been a little slow since COVID, particularly in Ellijay. We’ve had several new patients today (in Blue Ridge), but we’ve not been seeing that in Ellijay,” he added.
The clinics are for adults who aren’t insured or have no means to pay. They’re held in Ellijay the second Tuesday of each month, from 4 p.m. until the last patient is seen.
Patients fall between the ages of 18 and Medicare eligibility, noted Mathis.
“It doesn’t matter the month. It’s always the second Tuesday,” he said.
A physician and up to three nurse practitioners are normally on hand to see clinic patients. Dr Richard Tanner, a hospitalist at Fannin Regional, has provided physician’s services at the clinics for several years, Mathis noted.
“Everybody volunteers — the physicians, nurses, pharmacists and nurse practitioners,” said missionary Stacy Dyer.
The clinics do provide certain free medications with prescription, but pain meds are not among them.
“(We don’t provide) prescriptions for narcotics at all. From the beginning, when we started this, we didn’t want it to be a candy store,” Mathis said.
“We have a pharmacist on site and provide free medications like antibiotics, blood pressure and some diabetic medication, (but not insulin). If necessary, a doctor or nurse practitioner will write a prescription for medication we don’t have, and (the patient) can take it to a pharmacy,” he added.
If needed, some types of doctor-recommended bloodwork can be handled at the Gilmer Health Department, which gives a discount rate for clinic patients, Mathis noted.
“We have a good relationship with the health department. We also have a good relationship with Northside Hospital,” he added. “Through their financial aid assistance program, we’ve seen several surgeries and special tests done. It’s amazing what God has allowed us to do through these clinics.”
Mathis said clinic patients’ temperatures are checked, and masks are provided to those who don’t have one.
The Pleasant Grove clinic had been very well-attended prior to the pandemic starting, and its organizers would like to see those numbers come back up. Some may still be hesitant to attend because of COVID, while others may not know the clinics have continued through the pandemic, noted Dyer.
“We would get new patients periodically, but we’ve lost that in Ellijay it seems like,” he added.