The Clinic Building

A Message From The Excecutive Director

"Quality healthcare is a human right, it surprises many people to realize that many of the uninsured are small business owners, hourly workers and retired people who don’t qualify for Medicare, who simply cannot afford the cost of insurance in their monthly budgets. They are often the backbone of our community and they deserve quality care.” At The Clinic, we believe that everyone deserves access to quality health care, regardless of their ability to pay. It is only through the dedication of our volunteers, and support from generous individuals and organizations such as people like you, that we can continue this important mission. We are grateful for this support and recognition of The Clinic’s work."

Our Mission
The Clinic provides quality health care to the uninsured, in an atmosphere which fosters dignity and respect for our patients. It is our privilege to do so.

Our Vision
To provide quality health care with space, staff and funding sufficient to meet the needs of the growing number of unisured in our region... until everyone has access to health care.

Medical Director's Report

Busy is an understatement around The Clinic these days! We are seeing over 800 patients per month, across the fields of family practice, internal medicine, gynecology, dermatology, psychology and ophthalmology. We have a physical therapist every Tuesday and a medical massage therapist every Monday. We have a wonderful dentist who will see our emergencies for us, and a urologic practice who also sees our patients. Our newest addition is a dietician, Debbie Shadle, who comes two days a week, and spends quality time with our obese, hypertensive or diabetic patients. The patients have found this opportunity of real value; they don’t always want to “use up” their time with the doctor to ask food questions, and now they can spend 45 minutes to ask all they want and have a plan designed just for them.
In January, we hired a nurse practitioner, Anne Haney, who works three days a week. Anne supervises and trains the new clinical staff as well as seeing patients herself. And, for the first time in the nearly five years The Clinic has been open, I am going to take a two-week vacation. Because of our nurse practitioner and some wonderful volunteer doctors, I will be able to take this time and not have to be on-call for questions or problems. I’ll come back from the Canadian Rockies totally refreshed! Thank you for everything, as always.

drlorna

Dr. Lorna B. Stuart
Medical Director

Staff and Volunteers

The Clinic currently serves more than 800 patients per month with free or low-cost medical care. Although we are located in Phoenixville, our patients also come from everywhere in the five-county Philadelphia area as well as the states of New Jersey and Delaware. In fact, we have treated patients from over 93 different countries in the world!

We do not have a sliding fee scale based on income or geography. As a primary health care provider, The Clinic sees an interesting mix of patients. Our patients are people from all walks of life, from downsized employees and small business owners, to students and recent immigrants; old and young, male and female. Often, these patients do not qualify for Medicare or Medicaid. When it comes to health care these people simply fall through the cracks and cannot afford the cost of a regular Doctors office visit. They would go untreated and ignored if not for resources such as The Clinic.

Board of Directors

Keith A. Boyer
President

Mario Spina
Vise President

David A. Megay, Esquire
Secretary

S. Mark Fuga, CPA
Treasurer

Vernet Spence-Brown

Elizabeth Conway

Kathryn Evans

Judith L. Hans

Richard A. Kunsch, Sr.

Wm. Steven Mark, MD

Jim McGuire

The Clinic, 143 Church Street,
Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, 19460

Facility

With a generous donation from a local family the renovation process began in the year 2001. It took a year to convert this beautiful building located at 143 Church Street, from a boarded-up, abandoned apartment building into a modern medical clinic.

Now occupied by The Clinic, this lovely, Victorian house that was built in 1863 by the Reeves family, co-founders of the Phoenix Iron Work, is a completely refurbished building. The Clinic is proud to be a part of the revitalization of Phoenixville with this outstanding example of renaissance and adaptive re-use.

A Brief History

According to the 2005 US Census data, more than 46 million Americans do not have health insurance. At The Clinic, it is our goal to provide care to the growing numbers of uninsured in our region. Founded in 2001, The Clinic was the dream of two women, Dr. Lorna B. Stuart and the Reverend Marie Swayze.

Dr. Stuart and Mother Marie wanted to create a medical center that would provide primary medical care services to people who do not have medical insurance. Since our doors opened in October of 2002, Dr. Stuart and our volunteer physicians, nurses, and other medical professionals have treated more than 28,000 patients.

The Clinic operates on a “free clinic” model. While we tell patients that an office visit with a physician costs $59.55 and we ask patients to make a contribution to their care, it is solely based on their honesty and ability to pay. Few patients pay the entire cost, most pay an average of $15.50, and many pay nothing. We believe that every person deserves access to quality care, regardless of their ability to pay. It is only through the dedication of our volunteers, and support from generous individuals and groups, that we can continue to make this possible.

founders
Dr. Lorna B. Stuart, Medical Director and The Reverend Marie Z. Swayze.

boy on scale

Mary Ellen Smith, Medical Resources Coordinator

Who We Serve

We do not have a sliding fee scale based on income or geography. As a primary health care provider, The Clinic sees an interesting mix of patients. Our patients are people from all walks of life, from downsized employees and small business owners, to students and recent immigrants; old and young, male and female. Often, these patients do not qualify for Medicare or Medicaid. When it comes to health care these people simply fall through the cracks and cannot afford the cost of a regular doctors office visit. They would go untreated and ignored if not for resources such as The Clinic.

Corporate Information

The Clinic is a non-profit 501c3 charitable organization governed by a board of directors.
Financial information is made available upon request. Please contact Krys Sipple, Acting Executive Director at 610-935-1134 extension 30.

Incorporated in the state of Pennslyvania, January 2001.

The official registration and financial information of The Clinic may be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling toll free, within Pennsylvania, 1-800-732-0999. Registration does not imply endorsement