Shepherd’s Touch Clinic has been providing medical care at no cost for almost 10 years.
“It’s a way to serve our community and share the gospel through health care,” said Dr. Adam Middleton, a Kosciusko dentist who is a volunteer at the clinic and member of its Board.
The clinic, which is a volunteer-led effort, is open once a month, and health care providers see up to a maximum of 50 medical patients, five dental patients and four vision patients each month. It meets the second Monday evening of every month except for December at First Baptist Church’s Son building, which is adjacent to the church and across the street from Renasant Bank. In March, the clinic usually meets on the third Monday of the month. Patient registration begins at 5 p.m.
The clinic is largely supported through funding by Baptist Health Systems.
“Without Baptist, we wouldn’t be able to continue year after year providing this service to this area,” said Middleton. “Their funding allows us to operate on an annual basis. We do have some other donations that we are certainly very thankful for, but Baptist really gives us what we need financially in order to actually run the clinic.”
Baptist Health Systems agreed to partner with Shepherd’s Touch Clinic in 2017 by providing funds to meet the clinic’s budget needs. The funding grant has been re-applied for and awarded by Baptist since then.
“Baptist is always looking for outreach opportunities to help the community, specifically for the rural health markets,” said Mac Flynt, chief administrative officer of Baptist Memorial Hospital-Yazoo and Baptist Memorial Hospital-Attala. “We want to make sure we spread our wings as much as we can to impact the community as much as we can. Anything we can offer, we’re glad to do it.”
Shepherd’s Touch Clinic was started in 2013 with the assistance of First Baptist Church of Kosciusko.
“This came out of First Baptist Church, but it was always intended to be a community outreach,” said Middleton. “We didn’t want it to be just First Baptist; we wanted it to reach everyone. … Primarily, we wanted it to be a way we could share the gospel with patients, and we feel like meeting physical needs really gives an opportunity for us to address spiritual needs as well.”
The church does provide the space for the clinic to be held each month. While the clinic has connections to the church, Shepherd’s Touch is a separate non-profit organization run by local volunteers, including physicians and nurses. Nursing students from Holmes Community College also volunteer at the clinic. The clinic has about 40 to 50 volunteers each month.
At the clinic, Middleton said that medical patients can have chronic health problems assessed by physicians and nurse practitioners, and they are treated with medications.
“They are able to have ongoing care with regular examinations and medication refills,” he said. “We have a pharmacy that provides the medications for each patient.”
For dental care, patients can have teeth extracted at the clinic at no cost. Dental care, however, is limited to extractions only.
Patient’s seeking vision care can be seen for comprehensive examinations, and those who qualify may be provided glasses at no cost.
“We also have a laboratory service where blood can be drawn and sent off for analysis,” Middleton said.
Patients who qualify for the clinic’s care are those who do not have any health insurance.
“This is for patients who kind of fall in the middle,” said Middleton. “They don’t have insurance and they don’t qualify for government-type insurance, like Medicaid. So we are really trying to help those people who are avoiding care because they just can’t handle it financially.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the clinic became limited in what it was able to provide. At first, volunteers refilled medications for existing patients as needed over the phone and later by a drive-through clinic.
“Over the past year we have transitioned back into a fully functional clinic in how it was operated before the pandemic,” said Middleton.
Since then, the clinic has seen fewer patients and a decrease in volunteers, but the board is hoping to get back to serving the same amount of patients as before the pandemic and having an increase in volunteers.
“We really wanted to get that out there that we’re back,” said Middleton. “If you’ve been treated before and need to come back, come back and we’ll start treating you again.”
Anyone needing medical care can show up on the day of the next clinic, which will be April 10. Middleton said anyone who would like to volunteer can also just show up on the day of the clinic.
