Additional Neighborhood Clinics Are Planned To Assist Those Without Access To Care
The Neighborhood Clinic, a new 501(c)3 nonprofit in Southern Nevada, is partnering with the Las Vegas Rescue Mission (LVRM) to provide compassionate, on-site medical care and services to LVRM clients.
The Neighborhood Clinic, located near downtown on the LVRM campus in a completely renovated building, includes three exam rooms, a CLIA-accredited laboratory, and on-site medical staff, including a nurse practitioner.
Previously, clients of LVRM were required to travel off-site for medical and testing services, which posed transportation challenges, delayed receiving medical services, and for some, threatened recovery efforts.
“We all know there is a deficit of medical providers in Southern Nevada and often long waits to see a doctor for those who have means and access,” said Dan Briggs, founder of The Neighborhood Clinic. “Those without insurance, a home, or transportation have little access – sometimes no access – to basic health care. This community needs to do better, and The Neighborhood Clinic is a first step in meeting this need.”
For more than 50 years, the Las Vegas Rescue Mission has served men, women, and children in need with food, shelter, daily necessities, and addiction recovery. LVRM began in a small storefront on West Bonanza Road in 1970, it now encompasses two city blocks and provides approximately 30,000 meals each month to those in need, emergency shelter for men, women, children, and intact families provides basic needs kits, and offers a residential recovery program for men and women struggling with addiction.
“For the majority of our clients who arrive at our gate the closest they have come to medical services, in some cases for years, is a visit to the emergency room,” said Nicki Antill, chief operating officer, LVRM. “To be able to provide them with medical services, basic healthcare, on campus, could be life-changing! It will allow us to address both their immediate and ongoing needs without having to send them off campus, by bus, to see a medical professional which can often be a threat to their Recovery especially when they are just beginning the program.”
A second and third Neighborhood Clinic are already in the works, another in the downtown Las Vegas area and one in Henderson. Although unseen by a vast majority of Las Vegas Valley residents, the homeless population has continued to increase since the onset of COVID-19. Other pandemics, including tuberculosis and HIV infection, often affect this group.
“Even if we create many more Neighborhood Clinics across the valley, we will likely just be scratching the surface of this community’s need,” said Briggs. “True population healthcare not only helps those who are underserved – or not served at all – but prevents the spread and growth of disease and viruses to the rest of the community. There is a community-wide benefit to what we provide.”
James says
November 17, 2022 at 12:15 pmGod bless you Mr. Briggs!
Don says
December 1, 2022 at 5:17 pmIndeed, God bless you, Daniel.