Community Clinic event to celebrate local support
Siloam Springs Community Clinic is celebrating a long history of strong community support during the 14th annual fundraiser themed “An Enchanted Evening,” on Aug. 16.
The event will take place at 6:30 p.m. in The Brick Ballroom, located at 119B South Broadway Street in Siloam Springs. Tickets are $75 and the dress is cocktail attire.
The evening will include live music performed by NWA Jazz and More Orchestra, a fourcourse meal catered by Marketplace Grill, local craft beer from Ivory Bill Brewing Company and wine from Stock Tank, according to a press release. There will be live and silent auctions with contributions from local vendors.
Although Community Clinic has locations throughout Northwest Arkansas, all proceeds raised at the event will be used in Siloam Springs to help patients access specialty services, according to Kathy Grisham, Community Clinic CEO. In Siloam Springs, the nonprofit has a clinic on Mount Olive Street as well as the Panther Health and Wellness Center, a school-based health center.
The fundraiser will highlight the individuals and organizations that make the mission of “providing health care for all” a reality in Siloam Springs, the release states.
Last year the two Siloam Springs locations served more than 2,800 patients, according to clinic manager Raquel Beck.
The two local clinics provide primary care and integrative behavior health services, she said. They serve patients who are insured, underinsured and uninsured and provide a sliding scale of costs for patients who qualify.
“We really want people to understand we’re here for everyone,” Beck said.
Longtime supporters Peter and Grace Davis are honorary chairpersons for the fundraiser, said Beck. Peter Davis served as the first clinic director when the nonprofit was starting out as Saint Francis Clinic, she said.
“Peter was very highly involved in the startup and then of course Grace has always been involved as a volunteer,” Beck said. “She helped in many fundraisers, just helping us pull it together, and of course now she is involved with the school-based program. They’re just really very good, community-minded individuals.”
Overall, Community Clinic has about 37,500 patients at 13 locations in Northwest Arkansas, according to Amanda Echegoyen, Community Clinic COO. The nonprofit provides health, behavioral and dental services to under-served communities and addresses problems such as a lack of prenatal care, a lack of dental hygiene and a surplus of children on medicaid without a primary care doctor, she said.
In addition to the school-based health center in Siloam Springs, Community Clinic currently has three centers in Springdale, one in Fayetteville, one in Prairie Grove and one in the works in Pea Ridge.
“School-based seems to be the perfect place to do that because that’s a place where so many children can fall through the cracks of health care and a child who can’t hear or can’t see, or even if they’re hungry, can’t do well in school,” Grisham said. “We look
at all the social determinants of health, which are economic, as well as physical, cultural, all of those, in serving our population.”
The nonprofit has also seen great success in integrating behavioral health into their medical clinics, according to Grisham. Health care providers seamlessly introduce patients in need of behavioral health services to counselors during the same visit. A University of Arkansas study shows that two integrative visits are as effective as 20 traditional visits, she said.
“We are a patient-centered medical home and we want them to feel this is their medical home and their needs can be addressed,” Beck said.
For more information or to purchase tickets call 479-524-9550, ext. 6357 or visit communityclinicnwa.org/siloam-springs-fund raiser.