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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Clinic brings free medical care

Seventh-day Adventists sponsor services aimed at uninsured

The Spokane County Fair and Expo Center will be transformed early next week into a working field hospital that will provide free dental and medical care on a first-come, first-served basis.

The event, Your Best Pathway to Health, will serve patients Monday and Tuesday. Boxes of medical equipment, office supplies and drugs began arriving Friday afternoon for the event.

The clinic is a service of Adventist-Laymen’s Services & Industries, in partnership with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and it’s supported by numerous local medical companies, sponsors and volunteers.

The last clinic was held in the Alamodome in San Antonio, where 1,700 volunteers treated 6,192 patients in two and a half days. A similar turnout is expected in Spokane.

Services range from vision care and complete dental treatment, including crowns and root canals, to comprehensive women’s health services – Pap tests and ultrasounds – as well as treatment for sexually transmitted infections and general surgery.

Cardiology and gastrointestinal exams also are available.

“We are all volunteers,” said Dr. Lela Lewis, medical director and president of Your Best Pathway to Health.

Patients are organized in three lines – medical, dental and eye care – before intake begins.

Lewis said the goal is to treat 1,500 patients each day.

“Lord willing, we may be able to surpass that,” she said.

Spokane Mayor David Condon worked together with the Spokane County Commission to secure use of the Fair and Expo Center for free for the clinic.

“They are providing $8 million worth of care at no cost,” Condon said. “We are proud to partner with these volunteers.”

Services are aimed at uninsured or underinsured patients, but Lewis said no questions are asked.

“Even if you have insurance you may not have money for certain procedures,” Lewis said.

Cindy Williams, health ministry coordinator with the Upper Columbia Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, based in Spokane, is coordinating the volunteers, and she was at the San Antonio clinic.

“When we headed back to the hotel the night before we opened in San Antonio, people were already waiting in line,” Williams said.

She recalls one man who waited in line all night for dental services.

He had eight teeth pulled because they were beyond repair, and he got right back in line for vision care.

“He was all smiles and he just got back in line,” Williams said. “I don’t know if he got his glasses.”

Williams said nearly 1,400 volunteers are ready to work the Spokane clinic, some coming from as far as Africa.

Paul Hoover, president of the Upper Columbia Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, said the clinic is equally amazing and heartbreaking.

Healthy living is central to Adventist faith. Most are vegetarians and abstain from alcohol and tobacco, and there’s a strong commitment both to exercise and rest.

That’s why Adventists are some of the longest-living people on the planet, Hoover said.

“We believe that God cares for the whole person, regardless of who they are or where they come from,” Hoover said. “That’s what we want to share.”