PUTNEY — After providing free acute medical care one night-a-week for nearly 23 years, the Putney Walk-In Clinic will be offering its final free clinic on Thursday, June 19.
Family Nurse Practitioner Richard Fletcher, in collaboration with Putney Family Services, started the walk-in clinic in 1991 in order to make acute medical care available to those in the community who were in need.
Along with assistant Susan Bell, Fletcher provided free medical care one afternoon a week for seven years at the Putney Medical Office.
In 1998, the project was expanded to include other medical providers from the area, and the clinic has continued to the present on a one night a week basis.
Elizabeth St. John was hired by Putney Family Services to begin this new effort, and in 1998 she was followed by Leon Cooper, who has been the Clinic Coordinator ever since. Richard Fletcher, the guiding vision behind the clinic, has continuously served both as a volunteer Provider at the clinic and as the clinic's Medical Director.
The list of Doctors, Nurse Practitioners, Registered Nurses and other community members who have volunteered their services at the clinic is long – with many having been volunteers from the very beginning.
This list includes Tom Hoskins, Tim Shafer, Susan Slowinski, Bob Nassau, Maggie Lake, Raine Kane, April Brumson, Ann Zaveruha, Mary Chamberlin, Kathleen White, Karen Behringer, Nancy Sharkey-Fox, Joan Smidutz, Thomas H. Lewis and Thom Namaya.
In addition, Paul Capcara, Maria Ogden, June Levinsohn, Barbara Carey, Sarah Stracco, Eva Mondon, Melinda Underwood, Kate Wolff, Robin Ekstrom, Pam Bolduc, Jock Cochran, and Peggy Leo have also been volunteers.
Generous assistance of Hotel Pharmacy, the Putney Medical Office, the staff of Putney Family Health Care, and Brattleboro Memorial Hospital helped make it possible for the Putney Free Clinic to serve more than 4,000 people over the years.
The clinic staff says it is closing largely because, with the advent of the Affordable Care Act, they have seen the need for the clinic's services to be decreasing.
For those who may yet be left without health coverage, Putney Family Services will still be assisting area residents to access affordable health care. It is a Vermont “Navigator” organization, trained and certified by the state to help enroll people for health insurance through the Vermont Health Exchange.
They have already enrolled many hundreds of local residents, and a number of these have been eligible for coverage under the expansion of Medicaid provisions of the Affordable Care Act. To learn more about the Vermont Health Connect Exchange process, and about the guidelines of the various coverage eligibilities, call them at 802 387-2120.
Putney Family Services will also be helping people to access more immediate health care through local medical practices, and through local health care facilities, by offering assistance with appointments where necessary, and by assisting with any application processes for financial assistance.
They will also be helping area residents to enroll in all other assistance programs for which they might be eligible, including the 3SquaresVT program (food stamps), the Low Income Heating Assistance Program (LIHEAP), and pharmacy assistance programs.