Miami-Dade clinic offers good news to patients

MIAMI (FBC)—Miami-based Jorge Kruger worked for a South American cargo airline when an accident forced it into bankruptcy and him into retirement. Treatment and medication for his deteriorating health quickly depleted his life’s savings. When he learned that the Good News Care Center (GNCC) would treat him for free, Kruger first questioned the quality and compassion of the care.

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But when clinic doctors discovered a heart irregularity during his first visit and sent him immediately to the Miami Baptist Hospital, Kruger believes that clinic doctors saved his life. “This clinic is my salvation. I never get tired of giving thanks for God for them.”

Now Kruger says the clinic “treats me just like family.”

Kruger is one of more than 3,500 patients who have come to the clinic for help since 1996. The Miami Baptist Association-sponsored clinic, based in Florida City, provides free primary medical care, screening and diagnostic services to the needy and uninsured population of Metro-Dade County. The medical facility also offers medications, immunization, hospitalization referrals and treatment at no charge.

Support for the clinic comes from grants and a partnership with Baptist Health Systems of South Florida. Funding from the Maguire State Mission Offering in 2003 subsidized the salary of a physician’s assistant—“hitting just the spot we needed,” said Mike Daily, association director of community ministries. He relies on the offering each year to underwrite specific clinic needs.

The clinic began as a dream of Daily’s who had encountered the need as he organized health fairs across the association. “Miami-Dade County has over 500,000 people that do not have health insurance and who are eligible to be patients in our clinic. That’s a huge number. We receive patients from all areas of the county.”

Patients are referred to the clinic by social workers, hospital staffs, pastoral care counselors and word of mouth. Much of the care provided includes treatment for hypertension, diabetes and heart conditions. The clinic provides an on-site dispensary with pharmaceuticals as well as laboratory and diagnostic services.

The South Dade-based clinic has inspired other Florida Baptist churches to provide free medical help to needy persons in their communities. Since its inception, eight other clinics have opened across the state, many using the GNCC as their model of operation.

All of these ministries operate with grants, gifts and the help of volunteer doctors and nurses. An allocation from the Maguire State Mission Offering will provide financial assistance to these church-based clinics to underwrite some operational costs and purchase needed medications and medical supplies.

Other Florida Baptist churches also are interested in beginning such clinics, said Brenda Forlines, director of Church and Community Ministries Department, Florida Baptist Convention. The state of Florida provides sovereign immunity to health care providers who help charitable causes, she explained.

In this way, physicians and nurses that consider their healing abilities as gifts from God, can offer Christian compassion to those less fortunate. The clinic has utilized the services of 97 students of medical and health care professions. In addition to the students, the volunteer time of 100 medical doctors and more than 40 nurses have provided services.

“This is a mission field,” said GNCC physician Leslie Polland, who estimates that at least 90 percent of the patients treated there were born in another country. “And for the most part it is an unchurched group. They see God’s love in action and that is what we’re all about, demonstrating Christ’s love to the world so that they in turn will accept him as Savior.”

The staff and physicians routinely witness to and pray with the patients. The “Jesus” film is shown in the waiting room and each patient receives a New Testament.

This year, the clinic has initiated an outreach program that will permit trained Miami Baptist church members to visit patients at home. The visitation program will allow church members to evaluate patients’ understanding of medications and treatment as well as provide opportunities for witnessing and prayer.

Polland said she has seen people make changes in their lives after coming to the clinic—learning to drive, leave abusive relationships, re-establishing parental relationships and receiving additional education.

“We are empowering people, teaching them to take responsibility for their lives and to depend on God. They are learning that they are not helpless victims. They can affect change and that gives them knowledge and power to change.”

 

CHURCH BASED HEALTH MINISTRIES
Health Care Center	Operated By
Good News Care Clinic	Miami Baptist Association
Health and Hope Clinic	Pensacola Baptist Association
Living Water Care Center	Gulf Stream Baptist Association (north and south site)
Osceola Christian Ministry Center	First Baptist Church, Kissimmee
Community Medical Care Center	First Baptist Church, Leesburg
Samaritan Gardens Community Health Center	First Baptist Church, West Palm Beach
St. Andrews Community Medical Center	St. Andrews Baptist Church
St. Mathews Christian Community Health Clinic	Jacksonville Baptist Association