Free Medical Clinic

The National Association of Free Clinics (NAFC) has established a toll-free patient-appointment telephone number and a volunteer-registration Web site for the free medical clinic scheduled for Saturday, November 21, at the Statehouse Convention Center in downtown Little Rock, Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter announced today.In addition, volunteers can call the toll-free patient-appointment line, identify themselves as volunteers and register by phone.

The Little Rock C.A.R.E. Clinic will provide basic medical care and health education for people without health insurance, ages 6 to 65, from noon to 7 p.m. C.A.R.E. stands for "Communities Are Responding Everyday." The non-profit NAFC will manage the clinic with support from Arkansas volunteers, including both medical professionals and non-medical support staff. Our purpose is to serve the uninsured, and to treat everyone with dignity and respect," said, Nicole Lamoureux executive director of the Alexandria, Va.-based NAFC. "This is not just about providing care for one day. The best outcome will be for every patient to leave the clinic with the knowledge of where to go in the future to receive medical care."

The NAFC is seeking an all-volunteer medical staff of 120 physicians, 150 nurses, 25 to 50 lab technicians and 500 non-medical volunteers. Physicians needed include, but are not limited to, general practitioners, internal medicine doctors, pediatricians and endocrinologists. Also needed are a clinical director and a medical director.

Halter said that pediatric patients may go either to the Statehouse Convention Center or directly to Arkansas Children's Hospital, which operates a pediatric clinic each Saturday that provides care for children, including uninsured children. Shuttle runs are planned, as needed, from the free clinic to the hospital.

The Lieutenant Governor helped the NAFC secure 80,000 square feet of space at the Statehouse Convention Center for the free clinic. Halter's office has since connected the NAFC with an Arkansas team of health-care providers, non-profit associations and government offices to help gather volunteers and otherwise prepare for the free clinic.

This team includes to date Arkansas Children's Hospital, Arkansas Heart Hospital, Arkansas Surgical Hospital, Baptist Health, Harmony Health Clinic, St. Vincent Health System, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Arkansas Association of Charitable Clinics, Arkansas Black Nurses Association, American Red Cross of Greater Arkansas, Arkansas Medical Society, Arkansas Hospital Association, Arkansas Nurses Association, City Connections, Community Health Centers of Arkansas, United Methodist Church, the City of Little Rock, the City of North Little Rock and Arkansas Department of Health.

"The outpouring of support from individuals and organizations who want to help has been tremendous," Halter said. "When people are in need, Arkansans are always the first in line to serve."

The NAFC will provide food and beverages for clinic volunteers, as well as directions to the clinic and information about parking. Group orientations will be held during the first half-hour of each volunteer's shift. Clinic volunteers from outside the Little Rock area can book a room at the Peabody Little Rock hotel, which is connected with the Statehouse Convention Center, for a discounted rate if they register by Friday, November 13. Volunteers cannot be seen as patients.

The NAFC operates as an advocate for more than 1,200 free medical clinics and the people they serve nationwide. Recently, the non-profit has received more than $1 million from people responding to a call from MSNBC news anchor Keith Olbermann for free medical clinics in six states, including Arkansas. Olbermann devoted a full hour of his primetime "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" program to health care, during which he publicized NAFC's efforts.

Halter has said he believes the one-day Little Rock clinic also will help raise awareness of the free medical clinics already operating in Arkansas that work daily to fill the gaps in health care for the uninsured, underinsured and medically underserved.