Northern Nevada HOPES unveiled its new 43,000-square-foot clinic, the Jerry Smith Community Wellness Center, at 1905 E. Fourth St. on Tuesday, May 21.
The staff of the community-health nonprofit expects to serve 12,000 new patients at this location, in addition to the 14,000 it already serves at its Stacie Mathewson Community Wellness Center at 580 W. Fifth Street. About 37% of the patients who visit HOPES live at or below the poverty level, and around 10% are people experiencing homelessness.
HOPES CEO Sharon Chamberlain spoke with the RN&R about the pressing need for a new facility, how access works, and why philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, the third-wealthiest woman in the U.S., decided to make a $6 million contribution.
I understand the new clinic will allow you to expand primary medical care, behavioral care and substance treatment. Could you talk about some of the specific things that you most needed, that you now have?
The reason that we decided to open this new clinic is because at the Fifth Street clinic, we were turning away about 40 to 60 individuals every day who were trying to establish primary care with us. So we knew that it was very important for us to expand and begin. We were at capacity at Fifth Street … so we knew we needed to expand. This is allowing us to expand our medication-assisted treatment program and our intensive outpatient program and behavioral health, and then expand our primary-care services for adults.
Is the new Fourth Street clinic similar to the existing Fifth Street facility? Or is it something altogether different?
The facility is very similar to the West Fifth Street facility as far as layout and our model of having very integrated care on the clinic floor. The one thing that’s different at East Fourth Street is we have a walk-in clinic on the first floor. That’s available for all patients—existing patients, and new patients if they can’t get an appointment—who are in an acute situation, as well as folks experiencing homelessness, etc. That’s been a big shift for us, being able to have that available for patients.
What is the process of walking into the clinic and seeking care compared to, say, walking into a private urgent-care center?
Literally any person can just walk into the clinic on East Fourth Street between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. and see a provider. They might have to wait for a few minutes, just like at an urgent care, while you wait for a provider to be available. I think that it’s going to be very well-utilized. It’s all about reducing the barriers to accessing care, particularly for people experiencing homelessness.
What are costs like, specifically for someone who’s uninsured?
Our sliding-fee scale is based on somebody’s income. Somebody who’s uninsured, if they need help enrolling in Medicaid, if they qualify for that, or into one of the (Affordable Care Act) plans, we have people there to help them. But if they don’t qualify for any coverage whatsoever, then it slides based on their income. A primary-care appointment slides all the way down to $10, and a behavioral-health appointment slides all the way down to $3. If somebody doesn’t have that $10 with them, and is unable to pay at the time, we’ll work out a payment plan for that individual.
How are you able to offer services so affordably?
As a federally qualified health center, our mission is to ensure that services are provided regardless of someone’s ability to pay. That’s what we fundraise for. We rely on the community and people who have insurance who come and help to support those folks who don’t have any coverage. … We have grants from foundations and governmental grants, etc., that help cover some of the costs of the uninsured.
I understand that HOPES received an unsolicited $6 million donation from MacKenzie Scott. How does an unsolicited gift from such a high-profile philanthropist work? How did she find you, and how did she decide that you are a group she wanted to fund?
So crazy, right? It was so exciting. I got an email, and I thought that it was spam. … I almost deleted it. … I followed up, and it turns out that MacKenzie Scott has staff who research organizations across the country … and then they look at everything—you know, financials, nonprofit status, all of those pieces that are important for a philanthropist like MacKenzie Scott to say, “Yes, this is a well-run organization and something that I want to support.” … We had no idea that was happening. Once she had gotten all the information that she needed and desired, then she made the decision to give us the $6 million gift, which was just amazing. I mean, you don’t get unsolicited gifts like that very often.
What’s happening in terms of staffing? Have you been able to hire more people?
Fortunately, we’ve been able to hire a lot of individuals to work at East Fourth Street. We are still hiring. We have lots of open positions and are excited to recruit here.
Do those tend to be positions across the board, for physicians, assistants, administrators—everyone?
Everyone. We are looking for so many people right now, so please visit our website, and take a gander at it.