Four years ago, members of the Callaway Resource Network rallied to encourage Community Health Center of Central Missouri to open a location in Fulton.
The location at 561 Commons Drive is going - and growing - strong today, manager of clinics Sherri O'Dowd told CRN members Thursday.
"We had room to grow in all of our treatment rooms when we first opened, and now we're full," O'Dowd said.
CHC operates four clinics, one each in Fulton, Jefferson City, California and Linn. The goal is to provide affordable and comprehensive primary, dental and chronic condition care for people of all ages.
"We pride ourselves on being a dental and medical home for our patients," dental clinic manager Cassidy Bax said.
Dentists, physicians and nurses rotate between the locations. Dental care is available Monday through Friday in Fulton, and medical care on Tuesdays and Fridays. Medical hours at the Fulton location will soon be expanded to a third day, O'Dowd said.
"If they're not available, we can even do telehealth," O'Dowd said.
Patients and doctors can now be connected by video streaming.
CHC also operates a mobile dental clinic, which makes stops at nearly all the schools in the four-county area CHC covers.
"We started this program in the health departments and weren't getting the number of patients that we thought we could, so we started bringing it to schools," Bax said.
CHC increases accessibility of health care by accepting Medicaid and Medicare and most private health plans. Patient advocates at the clinics can help people sign up for Medicaid. Discounted fees for uninsured people are also available.
"We're able to do this because we're a federally-qualified health center," O'Dowd said.
To learn more about CHC, visit chccmo.org.