Clinic More Than Medical Quick Stop

Mon., June 17, 1996

Elana Jefferson Staff writer

From her small, crowded office at the Downtown Community Health Clinic, Pattie Harding watches tired faces come and go. And she understands.

“I work with people who have been where I’ve been,” says Harding, who lived on the streets 10 years ago due to drug and alcohol dependency.

She is the administrative assistant for the medical clinic run by the Community Health Association of Spokane (CHAS). The same group administers medical and dental services at the Northeast Community Center.

Located at 1021 W. First, the CHAS clinic offers complete medical care, counseling and housing referral services for people who are homeless or in transitional housing.

The clinic received a boost recently from the Spokane County Health Improvement Partnership. The coalition of health care and social service professionals pooled local resources to provide the clinic with a part-time physician, a new microscope and administrative assistance. “They offered support and expertise from a higher level than we had been involved with before,” say Bobby Wiggs, a nurse practitioner who began working at the clinic when it opened four years ago.

Wiggs says her patients are typically single people with low or no income. “Often they recently lost a job or health insurance. Some just moved here from another state.” These are people who fall through the cracks when it comes to accessing other public health services.

“Everyone runs the risk of having their personal life run awry. We see people who are college graduates,” she says. “We hope the community will continue to have empathy and understanding, instead of closing their eyes.”

To find out more about the services offered at the Downtown Community Health Clinic, call 747-7754.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: Inspired by the Spokane County Health Improvement Partnership, which is committed to discovering 10,000 initiatives that improve community well-being. If you have a discovery that deserves recognition, write to: Elana Jefferson, Editorial Department, The Spokesman-Review, 999 W. Riverside, Spokane 99201.

Inspired by the Spokane County Health Improvement Partnership, which is committed to discovering 10,000 initiatives that improve community well-being. If you have a discovery that deserves recognition, write to: Elana Jefferson, Editorial Department, The Spokesman-Review, 999 W. Riverside, Spokane 99201.

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