MEND
In Pitt County, free clinics have played a vital role in addressing the medical needs of many of the most vulnerable and at-risk among us.
Through time, these clinics have become the main healthcare provider for local uninsured patients with unmet medical needs. Though highly successful in providing medical screenings and certain elements of routine care, these facilities have not, however, had a consistent process for providing emergency care, follow-up visits or specialty care.
At least not until MEND was created.
A Safety Net Woven of Community Partnerships
Launched in 2012, MEND is a working partnership between Access East; Pitt County Care, Inc; local churches and other faith-based organizations; the Pitt County Health Department; and the Brody School of Medicine (BSOM) at East Carolina University.
As the MEND name suggests, the primary goal of this innovate community-collaboration program is to weave together the various strands of quality basic healthcare to create a more effective safety net for a highly vulnerable patient population.
The MEND Model
MEND provides uninsured local residents with a consistent option other than hospital emergency departments for addressing non-emergent healthcare needs, and ultimately helping those patients establish a primary-care practice so they don’t frequent multiple clinics. The result is not only an improvement in patient health outcomes, but also a reduction in local healthcare costs.
Care-coordination is the heart of the MEND model, and effective case-management is fundamental to the program’s success. MEND's staff social worker helps link qualifying patients to resources from healthcare institutions, community agencies, and the local faith community.
Free Clinics in Pitt County
MEND helps coordinate the operation of two free clinics in Pitt County that together offer several weekly opportunities for uninsured patients from not only Pitt County, but from surrounding counties as well. To learn more about those clinics, go here.
Donations Accepted for Patients
Click the picture!
Our Dr. Irons HealthAssist Clinic at the JOY Community Center & Soup Kitchen in west Greenville, N.C., is accepting donations of certain new/gently used household, clothing and toiletry items for its patients who need them.
Click on the calendar image, at right, which shows the specific items requested for donation each month, to be taken to a larger, easier-to-read version.
Referral Care
For more advanced healthcare concerns beyond what the two free MEND clinics can address, patients are typically referred to one of the local-area federally qualified health centers (FQHCs), including:
- Agape Health Services clinics (Washington, N.C., and Williamston)
- Freedom Hill Community Health Center, a Carolina Family Health Centers clinic, in Tarboro
- Contentnea Health clinics (James D. Bernstein Community Health Center, Greenville; Snow Hill Medical Center and Kate B. Reynolds Medical Center, Snow Hill; Walstonburg Medical Center, Walstonburg)
- Kinston Community Health Center, Kinston
For More Information
Contact Shantell Cheek, Director, HealthAssist Uninsured Network , at (252) 847-2224, or shantell.cheek@accesseast.org.