ADRIENNE McGIBBON: With a few hands hard at work and some quick unpacking.

It takes just minutes to turn this church classroom into a pop-up neighborhood clinic.

RECEPTIONIST: How was your visit today?

It's always good when I come see you people.

ADRIENNE McGIBBON: This happens about three times a week in different locations around Augusta County.

Augusta Health provides free care to anyone who shows up.

ISAAC IZZILLO: We really just want to do what’s ADRIENNE McGIBBON: Isaac Izzillo is part of the team partnering with organizations around this rural county.

The goal is to provide free healthcare services to the un- and underinsured.

ISAAC IZZILLO: You know, they’re going to have a more negative outcomes, higher cancer rates.

Right?

And they're not the ones getting screenings.

They're not going to the physicians.

Whether the challenge was financial limitations, accessibility, transportation limitations, or even a gap in health literacy.

ADRIENNE McGIBBON: Patients like Jonathan say the care he's received here has been life changing.

JOHNATHAN: Everyone that I came in contact with here, I could feel a genuine desire just to help.

ADRIENNE McGIBBON: He says he was living in a tent and managing a painful infection when he heard about the clinic.

JOHNATHAN: I wasn't really expecting much.

I just was showing up because I was in need.

ADRIENNE McGIBBON: He received treatment for his dental infection and a pair of new glasses.

JOHNATHAN: It is absolutely a godsend.

Anything that they can help you with your you're going to be helped by.

ADRIENNE McGIBBON: Providers also offer ongoing They're keeping an eye on Jonathan's blood pressure, monitoring his levels to determine if he'll need medicine ISAAC IZZILLO: So we take a real comprehensive approach to managing our patients’ care and leveraging all those partnerships inside our organization and out in our community to help.

ADRIENNE McGIBBON: Care providers have treated more than a thousand patients at about 230 clinics since 2022.

ISAAC IZZILLO: When we looked at our patients a year before they saw us versus a year after, emergency room visits are down over 20%.

22%, if I remember exactly.

Urgent care visits are down 41% and hospitalizations are down 66%.

ADRIENNE McGIBBON: Augusta Health is receiving national recognition for this initiative, winning the 2024 Health Equity Award from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

But Izzillo says the work isn't about awards.

ISAAC IZZILLO: Being able to share a message and our playbook to others, I just hope that they can help influence them to make differences in their communities as well.

ADRIENNE McGIBBON: And Jonathan's advice: JOHNATHAN: Just come in and get taken care of and get on to being your best self.

ADRIENNE McGIBBON: For VPM News, I'm Adrienne McGibbon.