The Atchison Community Health Clinic is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to provide free health care to those patients in the Atchison community and surrounding area.  Preparations are underway to furnish a fully functional clinic supported largely by private donors and the Atchison Hospital.  With time we hope to be able to secure long term annual grants for the clinic.  Having worked in the emergency room in the Atchison Hospital for over four years and now as a family physician at the Atchison Internal Medicine and Family Practice Clinic, I have witnessed first hand the number of uninsured in this community.  The amount of indigent care that is provided not only by the clinic but the hospital is staggering and enormous.  Often the care is merely a band-aid placed on a gaping wound with the majority of the care being focused on immediate issues.  Many life changing events (strokes, heart attacks, etc) can only solved by long term management of their medical problems.

Thus until universal health care for all individuals is mandated by the state or federal government, the focus has become local.  I have met with representatives of the Atchison Hospital who have expressed interest and are willing to join in a corroborative effort to bring healthcare to every citizen of the city of Atchison and its surrounding communities.  The current estimate of the uninsured population nationally is 18%.  A study was performed in 2000 and showed that 14,384 people lived in Atchison County, 1698 individuals did not have insurance.  With the current economic downturn, this number is surely much higher now.  The Atchison Hospital provides on an annual basis approximately one million dollars in uncompensated health care. 

Many small business owners due to the high cost of health insurance are unable to provide this benefit to their employee.  Our target group is the working, low-income families who make too much to qualify for state assistance yet are unable to shoulder the cost of private insurance.  ACHC wants to keep you healthy, working and providing for your family.  Our goal centers on preventative health and branches to acute visits – urinary tract infections, coughs and colds.  If you or someone you know is in need of assistance, we will do our best to provide quality health care.

Sincerely, Aaron Sinclair, MD Executive Director