New home, greater services for Free Medical Clinic
Free Medical Clinic of Oak Ridge plans to move to a new home and offer even more services in a year.
The Oak Ridge City Council voted to give Free Medical Clinic the site at 1790 Oak Ridge Turnpike, formerly a National Guard armory. The clinic gives free care to uninsured, low-income people.
Billy Edmonds, the clinic’s executive director, said renovations will likely take 18 months and cost about $1.5 million.
The clinic is staying where it is at 116 East Division Road until that’s finished.
Edmonds is looking forward to the new, bigger location, which he said will have three times the floor space of the current location.
It will also add mental health, dental and vision to its offerings.
The clinic will also provide women’s health, preventative and specialty services.
For Edmonds, the expansion is about making the clinic into what he always wanted it to be.
“The vision is, ‘What would happen if the working poor’s clinic was the best in class in the area?’” he said. “Our facilities were holding us back.”
He thanked Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch, City Manager Randy Hemann and the City Council.
Edmonds stressed the importance of providing free care for the uninsured people the clinic serves.
“Right now, if they’re sick, where do they go? What do they do?” he asked. “They have to choose between putting food on the table or going to the doctor.”
However, he said his organization’s free clinics, including Oak Ridge’s, have helped bridge the gap, allowing everyone in the relevant counties to have health care.
Free Medical Clinic has a presence in Roane County through its Rockwood Clinic and Harriman headquarters office, and can go around to various locations through its mobile clinic. There also is a clinic in the Rocky Top area.
Of that, he said, FMC had already raised $700,000 through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and from a state of Tennessee Healthcare Resiliency Program grant. He encouraged more donations.
Anyone wishing to donate may mail checks to 116 East Division Road, Oak Ridge, TN, 37930. Make checks out to Free Medical Clinic.
