Ground was broken on a new clinic in Bithlo today. It will offer uninsured and under-insured families comprehensive health care.
The clinic is the result of a collaboration between AdventHealth and Community Health Centers.
CEO of Community Health Centers Margaret Brennan says the current clinic serves about 70,000 people each year. Photo: Danielle Prieur
AdventHealth President Daryl Tol says it will help provide healthcare to patients who would have been covered under a Medicaid expansion program in Florida.
“Local governments, local businesses, not-for-profits coming together to fill the gaps that have been left by the failure to expand and cover a large number of the population. We think that work needs to continue both on the political side but in the event that doesn’t resolve private citizens have to do the work.”
Florida is one of only fourteen states that have not expanded the needs-based health insurance program.
The clinic will be built on the site of the current CMC clinic that provides more than 70,000 patients annually with adult and pediatric health services.
One of those patients is Christine Tran. She and her parents have attended the CMC clinic in Bithlo for almost a decade.
“That’s what I look for in a doctor’s office. I want them to be caring and loving towards patients and not rush things. And I want them to just show that they care and that’s what they do.”
She says she’s excited the new clinic will also feature a permanent dental clinic and a pharmacy so that they’ll be able to get all their healthcare needs met in one place.
The number of patients the clinic has served has doubled in the past five years.
This increase mirrors statewide trends: the number of uninsured and under-insured patients rose from 12.5 to 12.9 percent of the population between 2016 and 2017.
