Almost-Free Health Clinic Unearths Needs

From Close to Home column, January 15, 1999: Ink spots Ahem. Coeur d’Alene’s nearly-free clinic has not renamed itself after the 10-cent piece. Lake City Health Care is now the Dirne Community Health Clinic. A note on the name change was included in last Sunday’s column, but a stubborn glob of ink hitched the R and N in Dirne (Dir-knee) into an M. Without founder and supporter Lidwina Dirne, this model clinic for the working poor might not exist. So stop by at 1111 Ironwood Dr. Tuesdays and Thursdays, 5:30-8:30 p.m., or Wednesdays, 8:30 a.m. to noon, and thank Lidwina. She deserves it.

The five women meeting in a church rectory in Kellogg sound like children vying to tell the most startling story.

Their eyes widen and their backs straighten as each realizes she can beat the tale being told at the moment.

The friendly one-upmanship is amusing until their sad message registers.

“I had one guy who earns $130 a month. That’s all,” Hazel Hoffman says in an I-dare-you-to-beat-that tone.

Arlene Cochran can beat it. And so can Mary McKenzie.

“I have people who haven’t paid their car payments for months,” Mary says. “I have others who have no money at all.”

The women volunteer at the Shoshone Community Health Clinic and can’t seem to help comparing distressing stories when they get together.

The all-volunteer clinic opened a year ago in Kellogg to offer nearly free medical care to people who have no insurance or insurance with ridiculously high deductibles.

Three hundred people stopped in for help during its first year. Most were neighbors of the volunteers, which personalized the poverty more than anyone expected.

“It’s heartbreaking to see friends,” Arlene says.

Mary, a retired teacher, sees her former students, the kids she shushed in junior high years ago. They tell her about unemployment or wages too low to support one person much less a family. She’d hoped for better lives for them.

Dr. Allen Seely knew the area needed a low-income clinic the moment he arrived from Tacoma in 1994. He was a 31-year-old family practice doctor with a huge sense of social responsibility.

He’d entered medical school seeking a secure future, but his perspective broadened while he lived with his grandparents. Allen shared their frustration with the uncaring specialists they visited.

“My grandfather said, `I don’t want you to be like those guys,”’ Allen says. “That changed my life.”

Some of the patients who came to Allen’s Kellogg office were so poor that he didn’t want to charge them for medical care. But he had a staff to pay, so he charged as little as he could without falling into debt himself.

Experience he gained years earlier in a free clinic told him Shoshone County needed the same service. Colleagues showed little interest when he raised the idea and steered him to Coeur d’Alene.

Lake City Health Care, an almost-free clinic, had operated there since 1989. Lake City Health depended on volunteers and was open two nights a week.

Allen offered his services and met the people who could help him launch a clinic in his own community.

Organizers gathered in late 1997. The Panhandle Health District offered use of its Kellogg office for the clinic from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays. Allen pledged to find doctors and drugs.

Sixty-seven people volunteered to help.

“There are so many people in the community without insurance,” says Lois Jacobsen, a volunteer and retired nurse. “I thought I should do something.”

Shoshone Medical Center donated some lab services and added the clinic to its insurance policy. Allen contributed samples of drugs companies send to his office and found local pharmacists willing to help.

“This clinic is a marvelous tool for health care,” says Silverton pharmacist Ron Lavigne. “It certainly doesn’t break us to give $100 in medication every other month.”

Nine doctors donate their services. They treat colds and ear infections, high blood pressure and aches, even lice and roundworms.

Patients pay anywhere from $1 to $10, depending on income. The money isn’t enough to buy the medications, crutches, canes and wheelchairs the clinic needs.

Allen hopes donations for those items will surface as people realize the clinic’s importance.

“I do this,” he says, “because I’m a paycheck away from needing it.”

Shoshone Community Health Clinic is open Monday evenings at 114 W. Riverside in Kellogg. Call 786-3019 for information.

This sidebar appeared with the story: MORNING HOURS AT CdA CLINIC Lake City Health Care in Coeur d’Alene changed its name this month to Dirne Community Health Clinic in honor of Lidwina Dirne, one of its founders and constant supporters. The clinic, which is open Tuesday and Thursday evenings, also will be open Wednesdays, 8:30 a.m. to noon, beginning this week. Appointments will be necessary for the morning sessions. A nurse practitioner will staff the office on Wednesdays. The clinic is located a 1111 Ironwood Drive. For information, call 765-1667.