By LINDA CHION KENNEY
The little clinic that could, which launched 35 years ago in Brandon, has closed its doors for good, leaving behind a legacy that expanded into Riverview and beyond to treat low-income workers who could not afford health insurance and care.
From its humble beginnings as the Brandon Outreach Clinic, to its extensive, county-wide reach decades later as the Outreach Free Clinic and Resource Center, the nonprofit closed to patients Aug. 27.
It’s time now to pay tribute to the many doctors, nurses, pharmacists, board members, volunteers, donors, fundraisers and healthcare professionals who donated time, talent and treasure to build and advance the clinic. That service over the past 35 years and more has amounted to “millions of dollars” worth of pro bono care, said Debbie Meegan, who as the clinic’s longest-serving executive director resigned in 2020.
Count among them Dr. Stephen D. Parks, who with other community advocates in 1987 considered a clinic in unincorporated Hillsborough County like the Judeo Christian Health Clinic in Tampa. That clinic serves patients who otherwise could not afford diagnostic screenings, laboratory tests and medication necessary to treat chronic conditions and diseases, including high blood pressure and diabetes.
Exploratory work led to the 1989 opening of the Brandon Outreach Clinic, which for Parks led to decades of providing pro bono health care, as well as oversight of hospital residents, who, upon finishing medical school, sought clinical experience.
Countless others helped launch and grow the clinic, including pediatrician and board member Dr. Patricia Jeansonne of Riverview, whose obituary in 2016 credited her clinic affiliation. Bill Wolfe mentored Meegan, who retired from the clinic after 18 years at the job. Named posthumously for Wolfe, the “Raising Cane” Volunteer of the Year Award through 2018 recognized clinic supporters Ian Powell; Larry Bowman; Kay Weaver; Melody Glicksman; Lynn Peeples; Nan Goode; Dottie Malec, R.N.; and Pam Brownlow.
“The heart of the clinic [were] the countless volunteers who showed up week after week after week, wanting nothing more than to make a difference,” said Meegan, who before her clinic job was a case manager at Brandon Regional Hospital, now HCA Florida Brandon Hospital. “We prevented thousands of people from having conditions get so bad that they would need hospitalization or worse. We took care of them, and we gave them hope.”
The decision to expand services county-wide was made in 2018, as “we got a lot of patients from the Riverview area, the Ruskin area and Wimauma, and a need to treat the rural population,” Meegan said. “We went all the way south to the Manatee line.” Moreover, she added, from places like Sun City Center, the clinic “drew a lot of volunteers for the clinic, including retired nurses, doctors, pharmacists and anybody else who could fill a need at the clinic.”
In its early days, Parks would leave his family practice to see patients Wednesday nights at the clinic in a storage unit in Valrico, owned by St. Mark United Church of Christ at 2914 Lithia Pinecrest Road. With growth came the move to 517 North Parsons Ave. in a strip center that housed as well the Emergency Care Help Organization (ECHO), which since its opening, like the clinic, has expanded its presence to Riverview and beyond.
Back in the day, Julian Lee Craft Jr. gave the food bank temporary space after it lost its home in a nearby church, then lobbied county officials to secure the Parsons Avenue strip center space for both nonprofits.
In a letter dated July 27, 1994, pastor Garry A. Scheuer Jr., on behalf of the St. Mark church council and congregation, celebrated the clinic’s 30th anniversary. “We are pleased with having had the privilege of your beginnings here and are proud that you have grown to the wonderful stature of your present operation,” Scheuer said. “We understand that the county is providing your building for ‘a dollar a year.’ So enclosed you will find your first century of rent.”
Brandon Outreach Clinic archives photos
A 2004 photo of Brandon Outreach Clinic team members includes, back row, from left, Irv Dupre, Debbie Meegan, Betty Johnson, Melody Glicksman, Julian Craft, Dr. Stephen Parks, Kay Weaver and Larry Bowman and front row, from left, Dottie Malec, R.N.; Maureen Kapatkin, A.R.N.P.; Ann Schoonmaker, R.N.; Dr. Patricia Jeansonne; and Raean Broecker, R.N.
Today, that $100 would need to be $1.2 million, as reportedly the county was to raise the clinic’s rent from $1 to $1,000 a month, starting with the new year.
Higher overhead costs, coupled with a decrease in patients due to the increasing availability of Hillsborough County Health Care Plan services, are reported factors in the decision to close the Outreach Free Clinic and Resource Center.
But make no mistake, “our mission has been accomplished, we have not failed,” Dr. Parks said, in reference to the thousands of people who received health care they otherwise would not have obtained. “The clinic did exactly what it was supposed to do.”