GAINESVILLE - It shares part of its name with an older and better known agency but Good News Clinics hope exposure from its participation in Saturday's "With A Servant's Heart's Day of Services" initiative will increase public awareness of it and what it offers.
"With a Servant's Heart" is the effort by Gov.-elect Nathan Deal to call attention to volunteerism in Georgia through a series of volunteer opportunities around the state two days before his inauguration.
Good News Clinics is often mistaken as an arm of Good News at Noon, the agency that has been providing shelter and hot meals daily for the Gainesville area's less fortunate for 20 years. Good News Clinics, the state's largest totally-free operation of its type in Georgia, was started in 1993 and provides free medical and dental care as well a prescription drugs to the uninsured and under-insured. There are nine medical examination rooms and four dental laboratories.
"We use volunteer doctors and dentists to provide all of our services," executive director Cheryl Christian said. "Right now we have 46 doctors and 44 dentists who volunteer their services."
She says there are other volunteers who help out as well and that's exactly what they'll be doing Saturday, providing their services on a day when the clinic is usually closed. No appointment or pre-registration is necessary and patients will be seen between 9:00 a.m. a nd 3:00 p.m. The clinics are usually closed on Saturdays and Sundays but operate five days a week from 8:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.
For the fiscal year ending Sep. 30, the clinics provided $1.9 million worth of medical services, $1.3 million in dental services, and dispensed $4.2 million worth of prescription drugs. The total value of all services provided during the period was $12.1 million.
The clinics are fund with foundation grants, including The Medical Center Foundation; United Way contributions; donations from churches, individuals, patients, businesses and organizations; and, restricted endowments.
As for being picked to be a part of one of the pre-inauguration events for the governor-elect, Christian says "this is the opportunity for us to show the need of those in our community who do not have health insurance (and is) an opportunity for us to serve more people in the community" and showcase Good News Clinics to people who might otherwise be unaware of the services they provide.
Christian says she was "very excited" when she got the call asking if the clinics would like to be a part of the special event on Saturday. However, she said she was not surprised since the Deal and his wife Sandra have been longtime supporters of the clinics. And, because of their support,she wouldn't be surprised if the couple drops by sometime during the day.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first iN a series of reports this week profiling some of the non-profit agencies tapped to participate in "With A Servant's Heart.")
Saturday
March 1st, 2025
7:02AM
