News & Events

Clinic Updates

Here are some facts that might be of interest as Salem Free Clinics finished 2011.

  • Salem Free Medical Clinic officially became Salem Free Clinics in 2011. Because we were expanding the type of services we were able to offer, the Board felt it important that we not be thought of as only a “medical” clinic. In addition to medical and mental health services, in April 2011 we started our free Dental Clinic and in August 2011 our partnership with Corban College to offer free counseling services.
  • In January of 2011 we had 12 scheduled clinics a month and by the end of 2011 we averaged 20 clinics each month.
  • In August 2011 we were thrilled to open another satellite clinic in Dallas, OR. It is called the Polk Community Free Clinic and is open on the 4th Saturday of each month. In addition in August our Mental Health clinic moved to our Portland Road location so our Mental Health/Counseling services have a satellite location as well.
  • In August we transitioned to appointments for our patients which means that they no longer have to stand in line 4-8 hours waiting to be seen in the clinic.
  • We continued our partnership with Easter Seals in 2011 which allowed us to have our reception desk on Mon-Fri from 9 am-1 pm.
  • In 2011 we were thrilled to have our providers with expertise in orthopedics, headache management, chiropractic services, allergy/asthma, diabetes offer specialized services to our patients. We were able to expand our Diabetic Clinics from once a month to three times a month in 2011.
  • Our volunteers worked in clinics or doing mid week support 3,364 times giving the clinic 17,043 hours of their time. This is an in kind donation of $450,000 to Salem Free Clinics. The hours contributed by our volunteers were the equivalent of 7.89 FTE.
  • Some patient statistics of interest from 2011:
    • By the end of 2011 we had approximately 1320 medical/mental health & counseling patients.
    • In medical/mental health and counseling services 2,743 appointments
      were filled and patients seen.
    • Since April 2011, 128 patients were seen by our dental department with 217 teeth extracted.
    • 42% of our patients in 2011 were men and 58% women.
    • In 2011 the average age of our patients is about 45 years old.
    • Our providers stayed busy writing 3540 scripts for our patients in 2011 many of which were obtained for free through MedAssist, a county program that helps patients with the paperwork needed to obtain medication directly through the pharmaceutical companies.

Dreams for 2012:

  • In 2011 we will be hiring additional support staff for the clinic in the form of a part time Clinic Coordinator. In addition, SFC received a grant from Kaiser Permanente to expand our Diabetic Clinic services for our patients. With this money we will be hiring an RN to coordinate and expand these services.
  • We are eagerly anticipating moving all of our patient records to an electronic medical records system that will allow us to seamlessly connect patients to whichever of our clinics they wish to attend and have their records readily available for the providers at each clinic.
  • We pray with Corban University as they work to be able to expand their counseling services to 4 days a week, doubling the number of clients they are able to see.
  • Continuing to recruit dental staff and medical providers so we can continue to increase the number of patients we are able to provide services for. We would love to have our doors open 6 days a week with maximum providers and volunteers available at each clinic.

Most Commonly Asked Questions

Here are answers to some of the most commonly asked questions we receive:

Do we have dental services?
We do have dental services the second weekend of each month. Right now we are doing extractions only and keeping a waiting list for other dental work.

Do we need more volunteers?
We love to welcome new volunteers to our team…we ask for a once a month commitment from volunteers either at a clinic or in the office during off hours helping with additional tasks that keep clinics going.

Would you be able to come speak to my group aobut what you do and the services you offer?
Yes…go to the contacts page and email us a request. We will get a hold of you.

How do I get in to see a provider?
Call to see what appointments are available for the week on Monday mornings after 9:30 am. You are also welcome to call back during the rest of the week to see if there are any cancelations.

How do I get my medication prescription refilled?
Because we don’t have providers or nurses here at any time other than a clinic, patients need to make appointments and come in and see a provider to get medications refilled.