By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer
About 35 volunteers came out Saturday to prepare the Lonoke County Christian Clinic in Cabot for electrical wiring during a second communitywide work day.
Renovation work is transforming the 7,400-square-foot, city-owned gymnasium at 502 Richie Road in the city park area into a facility that will offer medical and dental care to uninsured people who live in and around Cabot.
The clinic is leasing the building from the city. It is scheduled to open in the fall.
Cabot Mayor Eddie Joe Williams said he is “thankful for everyone’s willingness to help. People have a heart to help the less fortunate.”
Treadway Electric donated electrical equipment, wiring, electrical boxes and conduit for the clinic.
Doug Gates of Gates Electrical provided preliminary electrical work and supervised volunteer wiring crews.
Karla Evans of Lonoke was part of a group of volunteers from Fellowship Bible Church in Cabot.
“I go to church here and I have been doing lots of mission work. It is a joy to help out,” Evans said.
Patients of the free clinic must not have employer-provided insurance. Their income must be below 200 percent of the federal poverty level and they cannot be eligible for Medicare or Medicaid.
They cannot be 65 or older since that population qualifies for Medicare.
They cannot not be on disability or receive any veterans’ benefits either.
Medicaid recipients may use the clinic for tooth extractions, though, since they do not receive any dental benefits.
The clinic is planned to be open two nights each month to provide medical exams and services.
The facility will have 12 examination rooms and three dental rooms.
A teaching room will serve as a classroom to educate residents on good nutrition, health and other topics.
The clinic will have dental care and extractions available.
X-rays and local anesthesia will be provided.
The clinic will also provide free access to life-sustaining and short-term medications.
Clients will be able to receive long-term prescriptions in 30-day supplies for medications such as insulin and blood pressure and heart medications.
There will be access to short-term prescriptions such as antibiotics and steroids to treat conditions identified and treated at the clinic.
Pain medications and antibiotics will be made available for dental patients. No controlled substances will be stored or dispensed at the clinic.
