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Doctors at free clinic in Waukesha County to see 100,000th patient visit this month
TMJ4
September 17, 2024
By Kaylee Staral
Link to the TMJ4 Article and News Story
OCONOMOWOC — A Waukesha nonprofit is celebrating a momentous milestone this month in its mission to improve the overall health of people in need.
Twenty-three years after opening, the Lake Area Free Clinic will see its 100,000th patient visit.
“It makes us feel that we’ve really done our job, not that there isn’t more to be done, but if you’re in the community, you live in Waukesha County, you’re low-income, and you don’t have insurance, there’s a place you can go to get help,” Dr. Peter Geiss told TMJ4. Geiss is an internist at the facility and has worked there for 17 years.
Funded solely by donations and community grants, the clinic serves uninsured adult residents of Waukesha County whose income is below 250% of the federal poverty level.
“We estimate there are between 16,000 and 18,000 people who don’t have access to adequate healthcare, and those are the people we see,” Geiss explained.
Dr. Peter Geiss has been a provider at the Lake Area Free Clinic in Oconomowoc for 17 years. This month, the nonprofit clinic will have its 100,000 patient visit.
“It makes us feel that we’ve really done our job. Not that the work is done, but if you’re in the community, you live in Waukesha County, and you don’t have insurance, there’s a place you can go to get help.”
“Seventy percent of our patients work, but they are the working poor. They have low incomes and no benefits.”
That’s where the clinic steps in, offering services such as primary care, specialties, and insurance enrollment assistance. It also partners with ProHealth Care and Aurora Health Care for labs and imaging.
“I couldn’t even tell you how many offices I called in Waukesha County,” Vicki Auckutt, an Oconomowoc resident, shared.
“Not a lot of people have taken my insurance since I retired. I found these guys, and it’s like a match,” Auckutt said on her way back from a dental cleaning.
The clinic opened in 2001 after a group of emergency room doctors at Oconomowoc Memorial Hospital saw many patients using the ER for medical care because they had no insurance.
“It is shocking because Waukesha is the second or third wealthiest county, but we still have a huge population that can’t access care,” Geiss said.
In the first year, the clinic saw just 100 patients.
Since opening, it has served more than 9,000 people, even adding a free dental clinic in 2017.
Along with seven full-time staff members, there are more than 200 volunteers who have provided thousands of hours of service to keep the clinic going.
“They’re just wonderful people when you can’t find anyone else to go to. I’m very grateful to have this place,” Auckutt said with a smile.
Lake Area Free Clinic is a nonprofit. Its 2024 budget for expenses is $2.1 million, a number Geiss said they need help to reach.
The clinic is open Tuesday and Thursday evenings by appointment only.
For more information or to support the clinic, visit their website.
Lake Area Free Clinic to hold tuneful fundraiser
The Freeman
August 23, 2023
By Rebecca Seymour
Special to The Freeman
WAUKESHA — The Lake Area Free Clinic will hold its 19th annual fundraising gala "Tune in for the Cause" at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9, at the Ingleside Hotel. Guests are invited to wear their favorite concert duds for a fun evening of music nostalgia and a chance to "band together" to give generously.
The event will include a plated dinner, cash bar, raffles, live auction, musical games and trivia, and more. An online auction will also be offered Sept. 2-9. The fundraiser is co-hosted by Oconomowoc’s own Mike and Mary Anne Miller.
"Our Gala is our largest annual fundraiser. It allows us to continue providing services to those in need. The gala team provides fun and creative ways for people to engage in a casual atmosphere. This year we invite people to come in jeans and their favorite concert tee and ‘Tune in for the Cause,’" said Mary Reich, Lake Area Free Clinic executive director. "It is always overwhelming to see the community come together in support of the clinic with their incredible generosity."
The Lake Area Free Clinic, 856 Armour Road in Oconomowoc has been a valuable community resource for 22 years. Since 2001, the nonprofit has provided medical services to more than 8,500 Waukesha County residents who lack health insurance and the ability to pay for health care.
The nonprofit organization estimates there are 16,000 Waukesha County adults who are medically uninsured. In 2022, the medical clinic had 187 new patients, and 72% of all LAFC patients were at the Federal Poverty Level ($14,580 for a single person) or below.
Funded solely through donations and grants, the LAFC relies on community volunteers. In 2022, LAFC volunteers contributed nearly 11,000 hours of service helping neighbors in need in all facets of the clinic’s operations.
After identifying a lack of access to preventive and basic dental services for low-income Waukesha County adults who were on Badger-Care/Medicaid or uninsured, LAFC opened its dental clinic in late 2017. Since then, it has delivered dental care and support to more than 6,000 patients.
For more information and to register for the LAFC Gala, visit www.lakeareafreeclinic.org/gala-event.
A medical home for those in need
The Lake Area Free Health Clinic has been providing medical and dental care to low-income residents of Waukesha County since 2001
GMTODAY.COM, The Enterprise
May 4, 2023
By Chris Barlow
Special to the Enterprise
Link to The Enterprise Article
OCONOMOWOC — Tapping into an array of volunteers from the health care industry, Lake Area Free Clinic serves as a valuable resource for low-income, uninsured residents of Waukesha County.
The clinic operates two days a week and provides medical services including primary care, cardiology, dermatology, physical therapy, hepatology, neurology, orthopedics, OB-GYN, nephrology, mental health and psychology.
Employing over 200 volunteers including ten specialist doctors, and five full-time equivalent employees, the clinic is available to the estimated 16,000 Waukesha County adults who are medically uninsured. To be eligible for care at the clinic, an individual must have a household income at or below 250% of the federal poverty level, which is currently calculated as $36,450.
"Everybody from front desk to lab to pharmacy to nurses, interpreters and an array of volunteers are necessary to make the clinic run," Executive Director Mary Reich said. "What is not available here, we have access to those resources out in the community."
Seeing a great need in the community the concept for the clinic was given a boost by Betty Schumacher in 2000 and was up and running within a year.
"It took a while to figure out how to go about this, but we laid the groundwork in a very solid way," Schumacher, the clinic’s founder, said. "The biggest thing that happened to us is the way the medical community responded to us."
To get the clinic open, Schumacher and others had to figure out how to fund it and create the organizational structure.
The fundraising effort proved fruitful from the beginning when the ProHealth Oconomowoc Memorial Hospital jumped on board.
The hospital gave the fledgling operation a boost by providing a $40,000 grant. An additional $15,000 was raised through other donors giving them about $55,000 with which to get the doors open.
"It helped us to get started and we knew we had some backing and we could start planning," Schumacher said.
In the beginning the clinic was open one night a week but in 2006 they added a second night. The current hours of operation are Tuesday and Thursday from 4-7:30 p.m. The first and third Thursday of each month they open at 1 p.m.
The current and future path for the clinic is steered by a board of directors that are all volunteers. They are also largely responsible for what the clinic has accomplished thus far.
"They are wonderful and allow us to do whatever it takes to fulfill our mission," Reich said.
The clinic started out operating out of a building on Lapham Street but in 2008 a group of volunteers in their 60s and 70s led by Mark Knickelbein came together to remodel the new home on Armour Road.
"Their tireless efforts turned the clinic into a comfortable and welcoming space for patients in need," Marketing & Development Director Megan Welsh said. "In 2017, when the need for a dental clinic was identified, Mark and his team of volunteers came together once again. ... And built a beautiful dental clinic that has since accommodated over 25,000 dental patient visits."
Mark passed away in 2019, but his legacy of care for others lives on through his children and their families who organize a yearly benefit for the clinic via a cribbage tournament. In just four years, the tournament has grown, raising $52,900 this year alone.
"This amount will subsidize the cost of dental care for 536 patients," Welsh said. "The Knickelbein family has done a remarkable job in honoring Mark's memory and continuing his legacy of care for others."
The patients are expected to make an appointment and to provide the financial documents needed for verification to receive care. That includes all the general and specialty care and the resources to find insurance.
"We want the patient care to be successful. With that, we ask them to manage their care after they leave the clinic," Reich said. "If they come in and are not eligible, we will help them that day and then refer them for further care."
To help ensure success the clinic’s partners step up in a big way. For example, ProHealth provides all the labs and x-rays and the Pick ’n Save pharmacy helps with medications the patients need.
"Our volunteers work with pharmaceutical companies to get free prescriptions," grant writer and greeter Linda Yergens said. "We are able to get about 80% of our patients’ medications free of charge."
Reich said that without those community partners they could not do what they do. They also work to transition about a hundred patients a year out of the clinic and into insurance.
"A ‘navigator’ will assist them through the process of the establishment of insurance for their healthcare." Reich said. "We have case managers who are the thread of continuity for the patient."