Jordan Valley Community Health Center: Clinic offers medical, dental services to variety of patients

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by Ashleigh Behlmann|ret||ret||tab|

SBJ Contributing Writer|ret||ret||tab|

sbj@sbj.net|ret||ret||tab|

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Jordan Valley Community Health Center has been bettering the health of previously underserved patients since Jan. 1, 2003. Since doors opened at the medical clinic, 3000 E. Division, Stes. A, B and C, and the dental clinic, 618 N. Benton, demand for the clinic's services has steadily increased. |ret||ret||tab|

Jordan Valley Community Health center is a federally qualified clinic, one of 17 in Missouri. This means that its services are accessible to patients in a wide socioeconomic range. Because approximately one-third of the clinic's client base is Medicaid patients, it qualifies for a grant from the Health Resources Service Administration. "(The grant) goes to offset portions of our cost related to primary health care services for the lower socioeconomic income patients," said K. Brooks Miller Jr., executive director of the center. |ret||ret||tab|

The clinic's success is dependent on balancing three types of payment.|ret||ret||tab|

"We see patients who can pay a tiny bit that's what we call our sliding scale , we see Medicaid patients, and we also see regular insurance/Medicare patients," said Dr. John Bentley, clinic medical director. The health clinic is maintaining roughly one-third of its clientele in each of these three categories, which is essential to balance the cost of the clinic.|ret||ret||tab|

Jordan Valley Community Health Care Center serves patients from Springfield and the surrounding areas. |ret||ret||tab|

"I think the main benefit of this clinic is the people we see. We have a chance to give people medical attention who have not had it in the past. We don't turn them down," said medical assistant Jan Freeman. |ret||ret||tab|

Bentley said the clinic averages 45 to 60 patients a day.|ret||ret||tab|

"We have a large group of Medicaid patients. These are people who couldn't get in anywhere else but the emergency room," said Bentley. The clinic offers primary care services, mental health services and dentistry. Patients may expect to schedule medical appointments two to three weeks in advance, and dental care appointments 1 1/2 to two years in advance.|ret||ret||tab|

"One of the things that we try to do as a community health center is to identify our patient population, look at that population and say, These are what the needs are,' Miller said. "Our approach is very basic. There's primary care, dental and mental health that we are required as a federally qualified clinic to look at. We look at the individual with a holistic approach and try to provide these services to them. Really our objective is to improve outcomes. It's not so much what we do today as it is what we do today and how it relates to the future."|ret||ret||tab|

Jordan Valley Community Health Care Center has met the need for mental health care by bringing in two counselors, David Black and Martha Phillips, from the Burrell system. "They'll see about five to 10 patients a day. Just like at a lot of doctor's offices we have patients with drug-related problems, depression and anxiety," said Bentley.|ret||ret||tab|

The clinic receives referrals from local hospitals and social workers, and it has made efforts to stay visible in the community in order to raise awareness of the services it offers. As a result the clinic is growing so steadily that plans for new locations and additional services are being discussed.|ret||ret||tab|

"We have an expansion plan for spring to add additional dental operatories. We currently have six, and we hope to bring that number up to 11 and hire some additional staff," Miller said. "We're also in the process of trying to recruit for possible positions and possibly identify a second location for our medical clinic. The east-side location is a good location for people on that side of town or for those rural areas off of Highway 65, but we'd like to have a presence possibly on the northwest side of Springfield," said Miller. |ret||ret||tab|

Jordan Valley Community Health Center operates with a full-time staff of 35 people; both clinics are open 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The clinic also harbors ambitious long-term goals.|ret||ret||tab|

"We'd like to put in an X-ray department and a pharmacy. Those are two big needs that have not been met yet," said Bentley. |ret||ret||tab|

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