In 1996, the Montgomery County Medical Society met to address the growing number of people in the community without health insurance.

Well, that same year, the Post Clinic, a free doctor's office in downtown Mount Sterling, started seeing patients in the old Post Office building, hence the name.

Coming up on its 30th year anniversary, their mission to serve those in need remains the same.

Here's more from Kentucky Edition's Clayton Dalton.

In the middle of a neighborhood in downtown Mount Sterling.

You'll find the Post Clinic.

They offer routine physicals, lab work, X-rays, vaccinations, and more.

All free of charge.

In 2017, they added dental services.

We were able to find a dental office, and we had some equipment, that was donated.

So we were able to start a free clinic, here in town.

And one day a month and our clinics were full, and we saw that we were meeting a certain need, but we couldn't provide the care for all the the demand that we were, receiving from the patients.

The patient pool continued to grow, and they quickly realized their facility couldn't meet the needs they were seeing.

But with local, state and federal dollars, the dream of a new facility became reality in 2024.

It's a state of the art building with four medical exam rooms and four dental rooms.

It has, negative airflow to protect people from infectious diseases.

And we have, air circulation every ten minutes.

Having dentists and physicians under one roof offers patients a level of care that's uncommon in traditional health care settings.

We're here because we want to be here and so many times we see with patients on the medical side that come in for medical but have an abscess tooth.

We're able to do that extraction for you and work hand in hand.

And then on the flip side, someone comes in to have an extraction done, but their blood pressure is out of control because they haven't had the money to go and be on their medication, say, in six months.

So we funnel it back to the medical and and most time with the medical, we can get them in the same day so that in a month their own that medication and now they can have their dental procedure done.

We're not just looking at the teeth or a tooth, we're looking at the whole person.

And so the fact that this clinic is positioned where it's positioned and the fact that it can have a large array of dental services provided is crucial for this community.

When you look at free dental services, and here we are in the in the gateway area, you know, we're right at the foothills of Appalachia.

There are many, many underserved populations in this part of the state.

Recently, the clinic expanded to offer denture services, meeting another critical need in the community.

We have a denture program now that we didn't have in the past.

That's very efficient.

We're making, what would be called digital dentures.

And it's it's been effective and we're providing another service for that patients.

Many of our patients throughout the years come to us because they've not seen a dentist for years, and there's not a whole lot of care that we can provide other than just removing their teeth.

They end up what we would call a list without teeth.

And so there's a big demand to have those replace both for esthetics and for function, so that they can live their lives, you know, much better.

Darla Kruger came to the clinic to address some tooth sensitivity.

She says the Post Clinic is an incredible community resource.

In today's economy.

Everything is so expensive and they are here to provide free service for you.

And if you need something more, they will get you in touch with, what you need and help you through that.

The first time I came and every time since, what impresses me is just how much they really care for people.

They don't make you feel guilty about anything that you haven't.

Then they are just there to serve you.

More than anything I see with the patients that come is a level of gratitude they have that we're actually looking at all of these different things at dentist.

It's looking at more than just the teeth.

It seems strange to them, but that's just what we're trying to have.

Be the normal here in the clinic.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Clayton Dalton.

Tanya Kendrick says her next goal for the clinic is to expand pediatric dental services, citing dental problems as one of the top reasons students miss school.