RALEIGH (WTVD) -- Urban Ministries of Wake County has received a grant from the Duke Energy Foundation for $9,750.00 to expand its Open Door Clinic, which aims to serve as many as 1,600 low-income patients by the end of the year.
Most of the patients seen at Raleigh's Urban Ministries Open Door Clinic on Capital Boulevard for healthcare do so to manage chronic diseases.
"This is regular care to manage and control chronic disease such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma, and depression," explains Urban Ministries Clinic Director Pablo Escobar.
As a non profit, the health clinic relies heavily on grants and donations to serve those in need. So, the latest grant of nearly ten thousand dollars from the Duke Energy Foundation will go a long way.
"Roughly one dollar invested in the clinic buys ten dollars worth of services," said Dr. Peter J. Morris, the Executive Director of Urban Ministries.
Morris says the grant money will allow the clinic to treat more patients this year.
"Our open door clinic has 4,000 active clinic patients in any given year, but, 1,600 or 1,800 of them actually come to this clinic," Dr. Morris said. "This makes sure we can add another 100 or so clients into that mix."
The NC Institute of Medicine reports there are more than 126,000 uninsured adults in Wake County.
that statistic makes the demand for free clinic services, such as Urban Ministries, very high.
There are income, residency, and access to insurance requirements that need to be met in order to receive care at Urban Ministries Health Clinic.
"We are open to Wake County individuals with income below 185% of the federal poverty level," said Dr. Morris.
The clinic runs with a small staff and hundreds of volunteers, and estimates it saves the county $6 million a year in emergency room visits and hospital stays.
For more information on Urban Ministries of Wake County's Open Door Clinic click HERE.