Bennington Free Clinic Opens!

Free clinic is part of a trend

MARK E. RONDEAU, Staff Writer

Friday, January 16

BENNINGTON — The Bennington Free Clinic began seeing patients Thursday, the day after a gala opening ceremony attended by about 200 people. The clinic is located in the Nichols Education Building of the First Baptist Church, at 601 Main St. It currently consists of one examining room and supporting areas on the ground floor. The clinic officially opened Wednesday with a celebration featuring chamber music, comedy by Rabbi Bob Alper of Manchester, speakers and a toast and ribbon cutting.

"This is a very difficult time for so many people, but at the same time it's also a time of hope, because of some of the people in this room who have helped make this clinic a reality," said Charlie Gingo, Bennington County field director of the Vermont Agency of Human Services. "You are a beacon of hope."

The idea originated with Dr. Richard Dundas, an internist who has practiced medicine in Bennington for 35 years. The not-for-profit free clinic is a program of The Bennington Interfaith Community Services Inc., an entity of the Greater Bennington Interfaith Council. Dundas is the clinic's medical director, and was set to see six patients on Thursday.

The clinic will provide free primary health care, referral, care management and wellness education to uninsured adult residents of Bennington County and the surrounding area who are within 250 percent of the federal poverty level. The clinic will be open on Thursday evenings from 6 to 9 p.m. Clinic hours will be changed periodically to meet the needs of patients.

The local medical community has donated medical equipment for the clinic. Plans are already underway to renovate more space for the clinic across the hall from the examining room. Dundas said 40 local doctors have volunteered to help out at the clinic on a case-by-case basis: "I don't know of any other town where half of the medical staff in the community would volunteer to work in a free clinic, so I really applaud our doctors here."

"In addition to that we have numerous nurses, social workers, psychologists — many, many people from all walks of life in medicine who have volunteered to help," he said. "And we have a large number of non-medical people as well who will help us with the running of the clinic."

One in every six adults between the ages of 18 and 64 in Bennington County — more than 3,500 people — do not have any health insurance. Some 89 percent of county residents without health insurance live in working families; more than 50 percent work full-time and year-round, according to clinic literature.

Volunteer intake staff at the clinic will screen patients for eligibility for state medical insurance programs including Medicaid, Catamount Health Care and the Vermont Health Access Plan, and will assist them with applications as needed.

Clergy from faith communities of the Greater Bennington Interfaith Council are available on a rotating basis to provide pastoral care. Dundas said the idea for a free clinic had been stalled until he started discussing it with Sue Andrews, who is coordinator of the Interfaith Council's Food and Fuel Fund, also part of the Bennington Interfaith Community Services Inc. "I floundered around for several months before Sue decided to help us out," he said. Andrews, who is now also coordinator for the clinic, brought the idea to the Interfaith Council last year.

"Several months ago, now, we began a dream that was fascinating, engaging and somewhat, almost scary," said the Rev. Jerrod Hugenot of the idea for a free clinic. He is coordinating minister at First Baptist and hosted the celebration. "Could the Interfaith Council rethink itself and do more?"

"I give thanks for Dr. Dundas and his witness and his dedication as a medical provider," Hugenot said.

The clinic is affiliated with the Vermont Coalition of Clinics for the Uninsured, which has nine free clinics throughout the state. The Bennington clinic is now the 10th, and it will get operating funds from the state through VCCU. The clinic is also affiliated with the group Volunteers in Medicine, based in South Carolina. The Bennington clinic has already received several grant awards, private donations and is seeking donations from community members.

Dundas, who received a standing ovation at the opening celebration, said that despite what he's read and heard, it wasn't his dream to open a free clinic in Bennington.

"To the contrary, it has been my dream that I would never have to open a free clinic, because we would all have health insurance," he said. "Essentially, we all felt obligated — all of us involved — because our nation, its people and its government, can't get health care right."

In the U.S., some 45 million people do not have health insurance, Dundas said. "We know these citizens are people that delay their care because they can't afford care, and sometimes the delay is harmful. We need to change our system," he said. "So until we citizens and our government smarten up, we will be here to try to help the uninsured. It's a community thing that needs to be done, and we are going to try to do it."

Those eligible for care at the Free Clinic do not have health insurance; have catastrophic-only health insurance that does not pay for preventative or primary care; and meet the clinic's income guidelines.

For more information, call 802-447-3700. Appointments are preferred. Walk-ins will be seen as time permits. The clinic's e-mail address is bennfreeclinic@gmail.com.