The future of Bethesda Health Clinic will always be directed by the needs of the patients we serve and our focus to fulfill our mission. The clinic staff, along with the board of directors, continually monitors these needs to determine areas of medical care that our patient population may lack adequate access to. By maintaining a strong network of professional medical volunteers, donors, charitable organizations and individual volunteers, Bethesda Health Clinic seeks to retain a high degree of flexibility in meeting the changing needs of our patients both today and in the future.

In response to a lack of access to affordable dental care in the area for the working uninsured, Bethesda Health Clinic has begun providing adult dental services onsite. The clinic has dedicated a large room for the dental practice, which is currently functioning with two chairs. Staffed by local volunteer dentists and assistants, the dental practice is expanding quickly and providing valuable services to the patients. Recently, several new pieces of equipment, including 2 new dental chairs, an x-ray machine, and dental instruments were purchased for the clinic’s dental facility, with the assistance of the Tejas Dental Clinic. The new equipment will help expand our ability to provide dental services, making services available more frequently and correspondingly allowing us to serve more patients.

Bethesda has also recently responded to the need for timely colonoscopy and endoscopy procedures, which arose rather recently due to cutbacks at area hospitals that made it very difficult to have these services performed. These are tests done by gastroenterologists to look into a patient’s stomach or colon whenever there is an issue of pain or internal bleeding. A generous donation from the Pentax Company has made it possible for the clinic to establish a low risk endoscopy room to offer patients these tests at cost.

Finally, as a part of the chronic disease model of the clinic, Bethesda Health Clinic has initiated the implementation of a case management program for our diabetic patients. Still in its infancy, the program will utilize volunteer nurses, acting under the direction of the nursing director, who will be monitoring all diabetic patients to ensure proper disease management practices are followed. The volunteer nurses will be in constant close communication with the patients by phone, cross checking to confirm that the needed tests are being run in a timely manner and that the required follow-up appointments are scheduled and kept. The ultimate goal of the diabetic case management program is to allow the patient to gain as much control over the disease as possible, while eliminating any barriers to acquiring such control that the patient may encounter during the process.

As Bethesda Health Clinic continues to expand its services, so too does it continue to expand volunteer and donor recruitment efforts. Our mission is broad and has no end in sight; we rely upon the faith, dedication, vision and selflessness of our community to continue our mission everyday. Please consider becoming a volunteer or making a donation to help ensure that we may continue to fulfill our mission to provide affordable health care to the working uninsured of Smith County.

 

© 2008 Bethesda Health Clinic