The Albrecht Free Clinic with Melanie Gonring
The Albrecht Free Clinic has been helping the uninsured who live and work in Washington County for 25 years. Their clinic provides health and dental services to those unable to otherwise afford it with a focus on keeping individuals out of ER rooms if possible. Associate Director Melanie Gonring joins me this week talk about what they do at their office!
If you have an idea for the show, please send me an email: fifteenwithfuzz@gmail.com
Albrecht Free Clinic
http://www.albrechtfreeclinic.org/
(262) 334-8339
Transcript
Little community of Washington County, Wisconsin. And while we're just exploring things from this county and sometimes those things surrounding the perimeter of the county, there are so many things happening around here and I am constantly amazed by all of it. And if there's something that you think I should be exploring.
Please reach out to me, 15withfuzz at gmail. com, or you can use the contact form on the website at 15withfuzz. com. I have a few openings between now and Christmas that I'm looking to fill, and I would love to hear what you would like me to share with the rest of the world, but mostly the rest of the world being Washington County.
Speaking of that, this week's suggestion came from the website. Today we're speaking with Melanie Gonring. She's the Associate Director at Albrecht Free Clinic in West Bend. There is so much good going on at Albrecht Free Clinic and there has been for 25 years.
So:So I just want to say one, thanks for joining me today and also congratulations on 25 years.
[: [:Yeah, right.
[: [: [:And so they aren't able to afford even purchasing a plan if that's offered to them. So. We really strive to keep people out of emergency departments for small things, especially now in the last couple of years, that's even more important. So we offer medical and dental care to individuals who meet our guidelines right here at our clinic.
So I can tell you this year, we are just kind of gearing up for all the year end statistics. We have completed 766 medical visits, and and 942 dental visits.
[: [:For people who, who need somewhere to go that don't know they have somewhere to go.
[: [:He joined with a larger system here in West Bend, but he always saw that need and he was always the guy who was willing to help anybody. You know, he saw someone on the side of the road, he'd pull over. You could only pay him in eggs, he would take your eggs. So he kind of has a long legacy of doing whatever he could to make sure people got the care that he needed, they needed.
n Dr. Albrecht passed away in: [: [:We have two evening clinics a week on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Historically, they've been walk in clinics. But due to COVID, they are by appointment right now, but I don't want that to turn anyone away. If, if they need our help, please call us. Sure. Um, so those are for more of, you know, your typical, I hate to say, you sore throat is my example, but just those one off needs that you'd go to your doctor for when, when you're having some pain or an issue.
Then we also do chronic care visits during the daytime for patients who are dealing with issues like hypertension or diabetes and need that more consistent care with their doctor. And then our dental program does everything from your basic hygiene to, to any dental procedures you need done all the way up to dentures, if that's what the dentist, you know, deems is the right step.
So really a full array of, of services at the clinic. And if we can't do it and you're one of our patients, we work with partner agencies and other healthcare providers to provide vouchers. So if there's lab work or imaging that we can't do at our clinic, We still help, you know, get that done for people.
Get a voucher, go to
[:How does that run?
[:So without the medical and dental providers giving of their time, that's a huge thing. We're fortunate to have great relationships with both of the, the area healthcare providers, the FreightArt system and the Aurora system are incredibly generous in helping to provide the supplies that we need to function.
I think any nonprofit you interview here will say funds are extremely important as well because while we do have great community partnerships and funders, there's always a gap. And so to keep, you know, it's, it's expensive to run a clinic. And um, so always people who are willing to give is a huge thing for us.
[: [:One of our huge needs for volunteers is actually, um, volunteer interpreters. we work with a large Hispanic population, many of which exclusively speak Spanish. And so most of us at the clinic, if not all of us who are on staff and our doctors, do not speak Spanish. So we have some great tools like an iPad that, translation services that help, but nothing beats that one on one.
Right. So if there's any Spanish speakers out there who are looking to give back in that way, that would be amazing. And then the medical and dental volunteers. We have dentists and hygienists and dental assistants that volunteer, the doctors, the nurses. We always need more nurses, so.
[: [: [: [: [: [: Over: [: [:There will be more information about that. And then also, you know, there are lots of things that people could do within their own groups that they're part of. So we recently just hosted a community wide coin drive in partnership with Westbury Bank and a number of churches. Got involved with that, some businesses, some schools, Silverbrook Middle School called us last week.
They, they actually ran their coin drive. in October because it worked better than our September date. And they said, we have 366 pounds of coins to give you because they had a competition. And
[: [:What is it? It ended up being 20 over 2, 400 actually just shy of 2, 500. It was incredible. And so I would encourage, you know, people who are part of a, a civic organization or a book club, like, you know, looking for something to do for the holidays, find a fun way, you know, we'll always take your coins that you can give back.
We also, you know, throughout the year, um, have people donate personal hygiene items, toothpaste, toothbrushes that we can give out to our patients as they're, you know, heading out from their appointments. Sure.
[:How do they find that out?
[:You cannot have any insurance coverage if you have insurance. Um, unfortunately, you know, we're here for the uninsured and your income level has to be below 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. There is a chart on our website, because it's different depending how many people are in your family.
If you qualify. So I would encourage people to check out our site for that information or give us a call. We're happy to, to talk you through the application process and trying to make it as simple as possible so we can get you seen for what your needs are. And I think, I just wanted to touch on that, and we've been here for 25 years, but the number of people I meet who still say, I didn't know we had that.
It's huge because if you don't, if you're not in need of the care, you're not thinking about it all of the time. So I, one of the things that we're really hoping as we're promoting 25 years is just the awareness level and hoping that, you know, if you hear someone at work or a neighbor or at church that is struggling and needs a little help, please tell them about us.
to add the dental program in: [:Absolutely. So alre free clinic.org and I'll put the phone number in the description of this show. So you can just go in there and, and copy that if you need it. And if you want to help out or if you need care, uh, again, check them out. And uh, Melanie, thank you so much for Al Vet Albrecht Free Clinic. Does, and thank you for coming on the show.
Yeah,
[: [:We appreciate it. New episodes every Monday. Thanks again for listening. And have a great week.
