The Trinity Neighborhood Clinic is a free clinic available to non-insured and under-insured individuals throughout the area. Our dedicated team of volunteer nurses and practitioners work alongside Clinic Director Sarah Stacy to continue to provide this valued service to our community. Read on to hear a little more from Sarah about the good work our team does!
The Trinity Neighborhood Clinic is off to a great start in 2018! We continue to provide medical care and community referrals to individuals and families in the Hilltop/Bryant community. In 2017, our volunteer providers and nurses served over 171 individuals, totaling 413 medical visits and sports physicals. Medical care and prescriptions continue to be provided at no cost to the patient, ensuring equitable healthcare access for all. We are always pleased to see our patients leaving the Clinic with hope and support.
A family, recently immigrated from Africa, learned about the Clinic through their children’s school. They came to the clinic to access services, including the coordination of free specialty care through Pierce County’s Project Access program. One woman, a month after being seen, came back to the Clinic and made a cash donation because “the Clinic helped her in a time of need and [she] wanted to pay forward the service for someone else.” One of the volunteer nurses made a home visit to a family seen at the Clinic, providing them with a full Thanksgiving meal. The two children in this family were also gifted beds when the nurse identified they had been sleeping on the floor in a 1-bedroom apartment.
These stories are the essence of the dedicated number of hours our volunteers provide our community. It is the helping hands of our volunteers that enable us to support access to healthcare and services in the greater Tacoma area.
In addition to providing excellent medical care, the Clinic has a few projects underway to enhance our service offerings in 2018. A Pacific Lutheran University nursing student recently conducted a needs assessment from our volunteer clinical staff to enable a better understanding the needs of our patient population. In January, the Clinic welcomed a student intern from the Health Information and Technology program at Tacoma Community College, who is building an electronic population health management tool. Both of these projects will enable the Clinic to improve referrals and identify social needs for the patients and families we serve.
Earlier this year, the Clinic entered into a partnership with Sea Mar Community Health Center which provides the Clinic with a patient navigator - an expert in health insurance enrollment and community resources and services. In just two Clinic nights, the patient navigators have enrolled four individuals into Medicaid, and have connected two families to social services such as WIC and food stamps. The have also provided translation services for those patients that are Spanish-speaking, therefore improving the quality of care and coordination to community resource.
It continues to be a very good year for the Trinity Neighborhood Clinic. We are excited that we will continue to provide much-needed excellent medical care and services here in our community.