Family nurse practitioner Kim Kemnitzer’s decade-long dream of opening a clinic for the homeless, working poor and the uninsured in Dent County is now a reality, and Master’s Peace Clinic of Hope has already registered about 200 patients who might otherwise not have received medical care.
Master’s Peace will be having its grand opening noon to 6 p.m. Thursday at the clinic, located at 407 E. 4th Street. The clinic is also planning to participate in the community-wide yard sale on Oct. 3, with all sales going to fund the clinic, which at this point, is still running on donations. Usable donated items for the sale will be accepted. Master’s Peace has a 5K planned for Oct. 10, and a fall festival downtown in the works, with details to be announced.
According to literature released by the clinic, Master’s Peace Clinic of Hope, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, is founded on the belief that all individuals, even those without insurance, deserve the right to excellent healthcare. Their mission is “to be able to provide free services to meet the emotional, physical and spiritual needs of those underserved and uninsured in our community.”
Services provided by the clinic to those without insurance in Dent and surrounding counties are health care, dental care, vision exams, chiropractic and massage therapy, counseling (to include drug and alcohol rehabilitation and group/individual counseling sessions) and life skills courses – including groups specializing in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and clinical depression – all free to those without any other means to attain these needed treatments.
Controlled substances or narcotics are not prescribed, and for the dental, vision, chiropractic, massage, and counseling/life skills training courses, patients will need a referral from their primary care provider or a provider in the health clinic itself.
What moved Kemnitzer to start the clinic, according to a quote she gave in a February article, was the endemic poverty she saw all around her in this area, 18.5 percent of the Dent County population as of 2009.
“One of the hardest struggles I currently see as a provider,” said Kemnitzer, “are parents and families trying to work to provide for their families who make too much to qualify for Medicaid, but still make too little to afford insurance for them and their children.
“These families often go without healthcare due to the high out-of-pocket cost to get adequate insurance and care. We at our clinic are here to bring hope to these individuals. Our goal is to help relieve the stress of not being able to get excellent care due to being uninsured.”
With the Missouri legislature’s recent choice not to expand Medicaid, leaving those who make less than $11,670 a year unable to qualify for an Affordable Care Act tax credit, and thus – largely unable to afford health insurance – the free clinic will be the first line of defense against disease for those 17 percent of Dent County residents without health insurance, 14 percent of whom are children under 18.
Kemnitzer said local church members have volunteered in droves to help in any way they can. It makes sense that the church communities would want to help the poor and the sick, as Christ taught. Now, they have a local, charitable medical structure through which to do so directly.
A feature article on Master’s Peace Clinic of Hope ran in the Feb. 3, 2015 edition of The Salem News and can still be seen at thesalemnewsonline.com.
The clinic asks that those interested in helping make the clinic a success, either by being a patient, volunteer, or by lending financial support through donating to their cause (all donations are tax exempt), to visit their website at www.mpcoh.org to find up-to-date information, or call 453-2606 for any additional questions and to find out how you can help. Check donations can be sent to 407 E. 4th St., Salem, MO 65560. The group has also a Facebook page.
