The following article appeared in the Jackson, Ms. Clarion Ledger on Saturday, January 20, 2007

'Truly a work of God': Churches provide free health clinic
By Jean Gordon
jmgordon@clarionledger.com

Uninsured and disabled, John Collins normally heads to a hospital emergency room when he feels sick.

But thanks to collaboration among several Jackson-area churches, the 48-year-old Jackson resident now has another option: a free health clinic. "It's God's blessing to have something like this," the former construction worker said while sitting in the exam room at Craft House Ministry in south Jackson. "God is great."

Launched late last year, Craft House provides free medical care to adults who don't have health insurance. The clinic got its start when a group of area churches figured out how to pool their resources to serve the poor." The health center is set up inside a brick house on Terry Road that a church member donated to neighboring Alta Woods United Methodist Church. Five medical professionals, including a doctor, a nurse practitioner and three nurses, volunteer at Craft House.

"We do need more volunteer practitioners to keep this open," said nurse practitioner Brenda Shepherd. "If we get any busier than this, we'll need another practitioner."

The clinic saw a half dozen patients during the four hours it was open Saturday. It was its busiest day to date. Organizers expect demand for services to grow once more people learn about the free clinic.

Craft House provides nonemergency medical services such as treatment for common illnesses and chronic conditions such as hypertension and diabetes. The congregation at Alta Woods United Methodist Church got to understand the great need for health care for the poor through its weekly homeless ministry, Grace and Gravy.

The lay-led program offers Sunday breakfast and a worship service for the neighborhood's homeless.

"Six months ago one of the guys cut his hand," said Alta Woods member Anita Johnson, who serves on Craft House's board. "He had no way to get medical help." Johnson said by the time the man finally went to the emergency room, he had nearly lost his hand. With earlier medical care, he would have been fine.

COOPERATIVE EFFORT

Alta Woods teamed with Crossgates United Methodist Church in Brandon and Epworth United Methodist Church in Jackson to open Craft House.

The three churches each contribute from $200 to $300 a month to run the clinic, said volunteer John Pitts. The contributions pay for futilities, maintenance, insurance and supplies that are not donated.

An initial investment of $15,000 in donations paid for building renovations, Pitts said.

The clinic has not yet determined its annual budget, said board chairwoman Terry Pitts, who is married to John Pitts.

"We are running on donations," she said. "Since we just opened we're just beginning to learn what we need."

Several other congregations including Aldersgate United Methodist Church and New Dimensions in Jackson and Greer Chapel United Methodist Church in Flowood have supplied additional money and volunteers to run the clinic.

Craft House director Catherine Cheney works as a critical care nurse at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

She volunteered at Epworth United Methodist Church as a congregational nurse before signing on for the Craft House Ministry.

"Your heart just goes out," she said. "I need to be here helping these people."

Cheney volunteers as a Craft House nurse during weekends off from her hospital job.

At the free clinic, she sees patients in a kitchen-turned-exam room, where medical supplies sit in neat stacks on a shelf.

Cheney, who also serves as the board president at Craft House, felt called to work at the clinic after visiting a Grace and Gravy service at Alta Woods.

"When you sit among them, you just feel like, 'I need to be here,' " she said. "I'm in the right place."

'WORK OF GOD'

The clinic was originally set to open in 2005, but Hurricane Katrina knocked a tree onto its roof, causing serious damage.

"We were basically ready to go when the tree fell,

said Terry Pitts, adding volunteers spent a year refurbishing the building before Katrina struck.

But organizers remained undeterred. They continued raising money, recruiting volunteers and collecting donated supplies from hospitals and drug companies. "This is such a conglomeration of churches and the medical community," Pitts said."It's truly a work of God because nobody else could have put this one together."

Craft House finally opened in September 2006. Most patients find out about the clinic through word of mouth or from fliers inserted in

snack packs

that Alta Woods United Methodist Church distributes to the area's homeless.

Though Craft House aims to serve the homeless, any adult without health insurance may receive medical services.

There are only a few free health clinics in Jackson. They include the Jackson Free Clinic, St. Dominic/Jackson Memorial Hospital Community Health Clinic and the Ethel James Ivory Homeless Clinic.

Lee Neese of Jackson visited Craft House Saturday to get a hernia checked and for help getting glasses.

Neese works as a receptionist at Stewpot Community Services in Jackson but doesn't have health insurance.

"It means a lot," Neese said about Craft House. "Some of my medicine I wasn't able to afford."

Stewpot volunteer Darlene Buckley of Brandon drove Neese to the clinic. Stewpot runs an array of programs for the needy, but is best known for serving daily meals to the poor.

When Buckley leaves Stewpot each week, she said she often wonders what the people she meets there do when they face a health problem.

"Even minor things we all deal with," she said. ""They're common to all of us."