Catherine's Health Center primarily serves low-income patients at four clinics including one at Mel Trotter Ministries, and now with a new mobile health unit, allowing staff to visit more places on a consistent schedule, meeting people experiencing homelessness where they are.
“We practice relationship-based medicine and so we try to give people a sense of where we'll be. We're essentially their medical home-on-wheels.”
CEO Megan Erskine says the clinic at Mel Trotter Ministries is now open to the public, offering Heartside residents access to healthcare lost when a previous neighborhood clinic closed.
“It's open 40 hours a week. We have medical services there, but we also have dental services there, behavioral health services and case management services. That's just a regular old doctor’s office in the shelter.”
The clinic aims to be low barrier, low judgment, and low bias, offering walk-in access to primary care.Erskine says changes coming to Medicaid in the next two years will increase the burden on providers like Catherine’s Health.
“More uninsured individuals will use the emergency department and hospitals as their regular care. Community health centers like Catherine's Health Center, Cherry Street, we're going to see more patients coming through our doors for primary care. We will be here to serve them. That is our mission. That is our purpose.”
Erskine is seeking additional funding to cover the expected cost increases through grants, philanthropic gifts and other sources.
For a weekly dose of news right to your inbox, sign up for the WGVU newsletter.
