Page 226 - South Mississippi Living - June, 2021

FINAL SAY
SUZANNE
GUICE
Interim Executive Director, Bethel Free Clinic
We Serve All is the mantra for the Bethel Free Health Clinic in Biloxi. Many of you are familiar with the clinic and the compassionate health services it offers to the underserved and uninsured on the Coast. If you do not know about us or thought we were no longer in operation, let me tell you about our history and services.
The Bethel Free Health Clinic, Inc. was established in 2005 by two physicians post devastation by Hurricane Katrina. The mission and purpose are to be a place of healing, where Christian principles of compassionate service meet the medical, social, and mental health needs of persons in the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community who are uninsured. Where care and compassion, not money
is the medium of exchange. Where the adult patients
we serve have an opportunity to receive, in blessings, as much as they give. All are welcome – no matter the race, nationality, gender, or religion.
The clinic is currently open Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 8 a.m.-12 p.m. The major diagnoses seen are diabetes, hypertension, and pulmonary diseases. The clinic works with the patients to provide appropriate medications, health examinations (acute and chronic), laboratory evaluations, and limited radiology from local partners. We also provide education appropriate to the living conditions of the patients and seek appropriate resources to aid in their quality of life. All is done at no cost to the patient.
As we continue to strive to improve the patient experience at the clinic we have partnered with an Eagle Scout candidate to restore the Healing Garden at the clinic. He has selected the clinic for his project to provide a place
of peace and reflection while our patients wait for their appointments rather than waiting in their cars.
The clinic is manned by a volunteer workforce of office personnel, registered nurses, nurse practitioners, and physicians. The clinic could not operate were it not for the volunteers and the support from our board of directors.
The Bethel Free Health Clinic operates solely from the receipt
of grants, donations, and fundraising activities. We just had our Inaugural Golf Tournament in April and do a variety of fundraisers throughout the year.
With the exception of minor operating expenses, all donations go
to fund the services provided directly to patients. The clinic views itself as a service for those in need, including patients who have low- paying jobs and can hardly afford living expenses, much less health care. We encourage productivity and celebrate when patients become financially independent, which happens far too seldom.
Our patients consider the clinic a place of service and respect. The clinic remained operational during the COVID-19 pandemic, initially utilizing telemedicine, then returning to face to face visits in May 2020. Many new patients came to us during this time from the workforce who have lost jobs due to the pandemic. None of this could be done without the commitment of our volunteers as we continue to Serve All.
Bethel Free Clinic 1650 Carrol Dr., Biloxi 228.594.3640 www.bethelfreeclinic.org
226 | June 2021
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