Dream Center Clinic offers free health care to uninsured

More than 45 million Americans are uninsured, and with more and more people being laid off, that number is growing every day. But for people living in the Lowcountry, there is help.

Seacoast church’s Dream Center Clinic offers free health care services for uninsured residents of Hanahan and North Charleston. More than 370 health care professionals from nearly every medical facility in the area volunteer their time.

Cheryl Robinson is a regular patient of the facility. She came across Seacoast and The Dream Center Clinic after she lost her job and went looking for a new place to live.

“It really is a life saver, and it helps out a lot, knowing that you don't have the funds to afford to go to a regular doctor, but being able to come here. It helped me more.”

Robinson says the clinic has helped her get well, and get on her feet so that she can start looking for a new job. She says once she has one, she plans on coming back to volunteer.

We spoke with the executive director, Bill Bartoccini, and he says the number of patients they're seeing has grown exponentially since opening in January.

“We've grown from seeing perhaps about a half a dozen patients, as I mentioned earlier, up to now as many as 50 or 60 a day. That, no doubt, will change as the economy changes.”

They are already working on expanding their reach. They now have two mobile units that will be used to help with overflow at the clinic, and also to go out into parts of the community that the center doesn't yet serve. Inside the mobile units, Bartoccini says they'll have an area for general exams, as well as eye and dental exams, but he says it's not the equipment they have that makes the biggest difference. He says it's their "culture of caring."

“When our patients come in here, they don't fill out any paperwork. Our volunteers do it for them. And the volunteers will be with them every step of the way so that we do a lot of caring from the heart.”

And it's that caring that keeps Cheryl Robinson coming back.

“When you feel bad or sick, by the time you come back out, you feel well even without the medicine.”

The clinic is open every Tuesday and Thursday from 9am-noon, and then again from 6pm-9pm. There are a few things you'll need to bring with you if you are a new patient. You'll need a picture ID, as well as proof that you live in either North Charleston or Hanahan. You'll also need to bring a pay stub if you are employed to show that you meet the income requirements. You must be within 200% of the federal poverty level. To find out more that, click the following link: http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/08Poverty.shtml.