A Volusia County couple is helping members of their community by offering free healthcare.
Dr. William Gilmer and his wife Pam are this week's Everyday Heroes.
The Gilmers founded the Jesus Clinic to help those living in east Volusia County who cannot otherwise afford medical care. The clinic offers primary and specialized care to their patients.
“There's 14,000 in Volusia County that don't have health care and we wanted to be able to serve the people that fall through the cracks, um the people that make too much for Medicaid, but not enough to buy health insurance,” Pam said.
We do chronic disease care like diabetes, cholesterol, high blood pressure. We have a multitude of tests that we do here. A lot of routine things that are done in primary care setting. We have 8 or 10 specialist who also come to the clinic and sit in the exam room and see our patients including orthopedic physicians, gastroenterologists cardiologists, ophthalmologists,” William said.
With the exception of one part-time office manager, all the staff of the Jesus Clinic are volunteers.
They have 35 doctors and physician assistants, about 30 nurses and another 30 volunteers who are non-medical administrative personnel.
“In the past year we provided over 1.2 million dollars of free medical care to folks here who come to the clinic. Each year we increase the number of folks that we see, the number of patient visits and also the amount of free medical care that we're able to offer folks. We um, offer prayer and spiritual guidance to our patients who come here if they um desire it. And if they don't desire it, that's ok too. We don't twist any arms,” William said.
The clinic operates on a budget of $50,000 a year and is funded entirely by churches and individuals in Volusia County. The Gilmers are hoping to expand their clinic's efforts soon.
“We actually have the doctors, we need more space. We could serve twice the number of patients,” Pam said.
If you know someone who you think is an Everyday Hero in our community, you can nominate them here.