Tyler’s Bethesda Clinic brings hope to the uninsured

TYLER—For some hard-working East Texans, a trip to the doctor can be financially catastrophic. The reason: They number among the 45 million uninsured or underinsured Americans.

Bethesda Health Clinic, a faith-based primary care clinic started by First Baptist Church of Tyler and other churches in the area, is addressing the problem by offering affordable healthcare with dignity and in Christ’s name.

“In our community, there was already pediatric, OB-GYN, and Medicare clinics established. So, our real focus was to develop a quality clinic for those who are working and uninsured,” said John English, executive director of the clinic. Many people “are working hard, but they just happen to work for a business that doesn’t provide insurance.”

The need for a primary care clinic was apparent when Michael Massar, pastor of First Baptist Church, encountered a doctor at the University of Texas Health clinic in Tyler.

“She came to me and asked it she could use one of our Sunday school rooms to hold a clinic because it was her calling to help people who did not have health insurance. I was very intrigued by that,” Massar said.

The doctor took Massar on a tour of local clinics. He recalled his shock at the lack of dignity and care offered to patients. Massar presented the idea of opening a clinic to the deacons at First Baptist, and a group went to tour a medical facility started by a church in Memphis, Tenn. After seeing the clinic, the group knew First Baptist needed to serve the community in this way.

“With the rising health costs, it becomes one of the real issues of this time,” said Massar. “And it is just following the commands of Jesus when he talked in Matthew 25. It seems to be a very important issue for Jesus.”

A volunteer healthcare provider starts an IV for a patient at Bethesda Clinic in Tyler.

Massar wanted the health care ministry to be a community effort, so he invited other churches in the city to take part in the clinic. Organizers created a board of trustees, and they raised funds to renovate a building leased for $1 a year by First Baptist Church. Local doctors donated supplies for patient rooms and the pharmacy. Businessmen and lawyers at First Baptist helped with the paperwork and legal aspects of the clinic.

By 2003, doctors at the clinic were seeing patients two nights a week. During the next few years, the clinic gained more volunteers and was able to open five days a week, offering additional appointments two nights a week and on Saturday mornings if needed.

This primary-care facility offers help to patients ages 16 to 64 who work or live in Smith County, is based on a sliding payment scale up to $20 and is run by volunteer medical and non-medical volunteers. Patients who need care not offered at the clinic are referred to specialists who donate their time and services.

Several churches have volunteered to run Saturday clinics and health fairs, providing not only needed medical care, but also information about preventative medicine. The clinic also offers healthy-living classes at the Bethesda Wellness Center, a prescription drug assistance program and diabetic education classes.

“I’ve lived in several places, and this is one of the most wonderful things I have seen happen in a community—where people can go for help and feel dignity and respect,” said Elaine Osburn, coordinator for the patient advocate program.

Ashleigh Crider from the University of Texas at Tyler paints the faces of children at a volunteer appreciation dinner sponsored by Bethesda Clinic in Tyler. (Photos courtesy of Mary Berry/Bethesda Clinic of Tyler)

Workers at Bethesda want “to meet their medical needs, but that is not the only need we hope we could meet in the patients. We want them to know that this is a place that spiritual needs can be met,” Osburn said.

To do this, Osburn and other volunteers are available when patients need to talk or pray with someone. The volunteer staff meets daily in the chapel at the clinic to pray for patients’ needs.

“We want to be able to minister to their physical and spiritual needs,” Massar said. “We show people that we love them. We try to model out the love of Christ before we start talking about it. We don’t make people jump through hoops in order to get help.”

Because of the success and growth the Bethesda clinic has seen, it has become an example for ECHO—Empowering Church Healthcare Outreach, a nonprofit organization based in Fort Worth that helps churches start healthcare ministries. ECHO takes the concepts, problems and successes that Bethesda experienced and helps other churches maneuver through the information to start their own clinics.

First Baptist “has learned so much in their efforts that they are willing to share,” said Tim Dammon, executive director of ECHO. “But they really don’t have time to do that. We learn a lot from them, and then we take that load off of them and share it with others. We help them understand the process to start (a clinic)—all the insurance requirements, malpractice coverage and recruiting volunteers and doctors.”

Because ECHO is fully funded by the John and Nancy Snyder Foundation, it is able to offer services to churches free of charge. A consultant is assigned to each church interested in this ministry and helps them through the 12 to 18 month process necessary to open a clinic.

ECHO has helped 10 churches—four in Texas—start healthcare ministries. Dammon’s goal is to start 10,000 primary-care clinics by 2030 and provide quality medical care for more than 20 million uninsured people in the United States.

Having such an ambitious goal is not a choice for Dammon. It is just following Jesus’ commands.

“It is so clearly an extension of the gospel,” he said. “Jesus himself clearly called the church to be engaged with the poor and to meet needs. When I sit down and talk to pastors, there has not been one who has said that this is not what the New Testament church ought to be doing. I think that is what makes me so passionate about this.

In July, ECHO signed a memorandum with the Baptist General Convention of Texas to help affiliated churches launch healthcare ministries. Dammon also plans to be present at the BGCT annual meeting to inform pastors how their churches can start primary-care clinics.