Coastal Family Health Clinic

www.coastalfamilyhealth.com

1/15 BAY ST. LOUIS CLINIC REBUILDING UPDATE:
After losing a large clinic location, Coastal served the recovering area from trailers and mobile clinic units while searching for potential new locations in the Waveland Bay St. Louis community. Coastal has been operating from a leased 5,000 sq ft medical building since June 2006. Coastal has negotiated a purchase option for the building and is planning to renovate and expand to meet the patient volume of the community. Currently the facility is supporting 3 providers. The renovation project funded by Social Services Block Grant funding will enable the addition of 3 exam rooms and one provider by the end of summer 2007. Located in front of Hancock County General Hospital facing Highway 90, the location is accessible to many of Coastal's pre-Katrina patients and a short drive to Waveland or downtown Bay St. Louis.


CFHC was devastated by Hurricane Katrina and sustained damage to 12 locations, with 3 locations completely destroyed. From the moment that Katrina hit, Coastal has provided and continues to provide essential primary health care for more than 30,000 residents in Coastal Mississippi. Demonstrating a knack for flexibility and creativity, CFHC immediately opened temporary service sites wherever an opportunity arose. Now, Coastal is working on semi- permanent service sites to begin to improve the continuity of quality healthcare for the people of Coastal Mississippi.

Coastal Family Health Center operates community health centers located in communities along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The Center makes available quality primary health care, dental care, and optical care to residents of this area, especially to those who have limited resources to pay for the care they need. All of our clinics accept Medicaid, Medicare and other health insurance. For patients who do not have health insurance, the Center will adjust their charges based on income level and the number of dependents. Patients are expected to pay on their accounts as they are able, but no one is denied treatment because they have no money at the time they need care. Also, the Center makes an effort to assist with transportation for those patients who do not have other means of getting to a clinic for care.

Of their 12 sites - 2 of which are mobile units - 3 were completely destroyed and only 1 made it through with no damage at all. The one in BSL was completely destroyed, but with the help of Loudoun Medical (who operated the BSL Free Medical Clinic) were able to establish their presence once again far more quickly than otherwise could have happened.

I have an email into them for more information on the need for volunteers, materials, meds, equipment, etc. as well as if people can donate to a specific site.

The woman who has been incredibly instrumental in organizing the clinics since The Storm is Jennifer Knight. WOW - talk about amazing! There is a video clip of an interview of her here:
www.wlox.com go to heros of mississippi.......

9/6 Found on www.WLOX.com

The Coastal Family Health Center opened a new clinic in Pass Christian Wednesday. Medical care close to home will make life a bit easier in the Pass.
"There aren't any medical facilities that we could find. It's a long distance to go to Long Beach or Bay St. Louis. They need something here," said clinic nurse Deborah Flagg.
Clinic clerk Jennifer Stroud echoed her words.
"They lost their houses, they lost their cars, so they can't drive to Long Beach. They can't drive to Bay St. Louis. They can't go anywhere, so they need something here. "
Coastal Family Health will run the clinic, offering basic medical services from a nurse practitioner.
"We'll take care of things like diabetes, blood pressure, asthma, colds, flus, things like that," Flagg said.
The clinic has two exam rooms and a mini medical lab for blood tests and other procedures. Funding for the clinic comes from a grant from AmeriCares. The international relief organization recognized the need for health care in Pass Christian.
"Anybody can come to the clinic whether they have insurance or whether they don't have insurance. It doesn't matter whether they get Medicare, Medicaid, it doesn't matter. Initially we're just going to take walk-ins, and as our clientele builds up and gets to be a heavy patient load, we'll start doing appointments."
Clinic costs are based on income and is open to any Pass Christian resident. The clinic is located on Saucier Avenue behind Our Mother Of Mercy Church. It's open Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 8am-3:30pm.
AmeriCares is also funding a mobile dental clinic in Pass Christian. It should be open sometime in November.
For more information about the new medical clinic or the dental clinic you can call (228) 861-8834.

6/25
From Direct Relief International

MISSISSIPPI

Coastal Family Health Center Clinicwww.coastalfamilyhealth.com $93,000

Procurement: Clinic supply restockingCoastal Family Health Center Clinic (CFHCC) lost its clinic space at Moss Point during Hurricane Katrina. Direct Relief granted funding to establish a replacement unit and provide necessary equipment and supplies so that it could once again provide healthcare services to its community, which needed its assistance more than ever. Merck Pharmaceuticals agreed to donate the modular building to CFHC and the local county-owned hospital, Singing River Hospital, agreed to pay for its transportation to site.

CFHCC makes available quality primary health care, dental care, and optical care to its community, with an emphasis placed on caring for those who have limited resources to pay for care. The Center also makes an effort to assist their patients with transportation when they lack other means of receiving care.