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First Posted: 3/26/2015 One beautiful October day, a man from Hanover Township walked 13 miles to reach the Care and Concern Free Health Clinic in Pittston. &#8220;I followed the river,&#8221; he told us.
He also said he intended to walk home.
But the day had turned very cold as the sun set. Anxious to help him, our volunteers called for a taxi and paid the $55 fare. He couldn&#8217;t stop thanking us for the assistance and medication.
Sometimes these situations just break our hearts. But they also renew our determination to keep the clinic going.
The Care and Concern Free Health Clinic, which opened Nov. 7, 2007 under the auspices of St. John the Evangelist Parish, is located in the former Seton Catholic High School. It was the dream of Ann Cocco, who convinced Monsignor John J. Bendik, Dr. John Callahan and a group of people sitting around a dining room table that Pittston needed a free health clinic.
In fewer than eight years, we have served 3,583 individuals in 8,803 patient visits. An all-volunteer staff of doctors, dentists, podiatrist, nurse practitioners, nurses, licensed social workers, mental health counselors, specialists and non-medical personnel operate the clinic. On average, 24 volunteers work each Wednesday evening.
A great need
The mission of the clinic is to provide basic medical care to people without health insurance. People come to us at their weakest moment. Many of our patients have not seen a doctor in years, sometimes decades. Many have multiple illnesses.
Our second goal is to help our patients maintain their self-respect and dignity. It&#8217;s not easy to come to a free clinic, so the staff does everything it can to make people feel welcomed.
Because of the generosity and kindness of the community and several annual fundraisers, the clinic is able to partner with Wilkes-Barre Imaging, Wilkes-Barre General Hospital and Geisinger to provide lab work, X-rays and diagnostic testing. We also have a partnership with The Commonwealth Medical College that brings students to the clinic to observe the doctors.
Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Junior League of Wyoming Valley, West Pittston American Legion and Pittston Area art students all are groups that have helped update the clinic.
Recently, a 2014 Leadership group took on the project of purchasing a MARTTI system, which uses SKYPE-like equipment to connect a patient with a translator in languages as diverse as Arabic, Portuguese and Estonian. We reached out to Becky Ruckno from Geisinger and she helped make the arrangements.
Our patients are very comfortable with it, the doctors love it and we always will be grateful to that &#8220;Clinic Idyllic&#8221; group of Leadership 2014.
Affordable Care Act
As for the Affordable Care Act, we&#8217;re not certain as to how it will all play out.
Some of our patients signed up last year only to return to the clinic because they had a $5,000 deductible and couldn&#8217;t see a doctor until they reached that threshold. It&#8217;s sad, and it&#8217;s very hard to try to explain this to people who thought they were finally going to have less to worry about in life. In some cases the ACA is working, just not yet for everyone. We know that there will still be people who will, unfortunately, fall through the cracks.
According to an analysis by KCMC/Urban Institute, it is estimated that 20 to 30 million people will remain uninsured in the United States. In Pennsylvania, 1.2 million will go without any form of health care; that breaks down to more than 30,700 residents in Luzerne County, more than 19,500 Lackawanna County residents and almost 20,000 in Monroe County.
The clinic has become an invaluable resource for patients who have nowhere else to turn.
The impact extends far beyond its doors and has alleviated some of the burden placed on the emergency rooms of area hospitals. It has been estimated that a routine emergency room care visit costs approximately $300. Since opening our doors, the clinic has theoretically saved local hospitals, and ultimately the community, approximately $2.5 million dollars in emergency rooms visits.
Last year the clinic served 1,503 patients visits, and we are humbled to have become a part of so many people&#8217;s lives. Our doors will remain open until there is no need for us.
Which may take a very long time.

Free health clinic committed to caring for those in need