For Jerry Easterwood and the volunteers who staff the Compassionate Care Clinic, meeting the need of a large segment of the population without access to health care is more than a desire. It is a mission.

The Compassionate Care Clinic, located at Sinclair Baptist Church off of Log Cabin Road, was the site of an open house Tuesday that sought to educate the public about the work the clinic undertakes to make sure that as many people as possible have access to proper medical care, regardless of their ability to pay for it.

“There is an inequitable access to health care in this community and in the United States as a whole,” Easterwood said. “We’re trying to be a dedicated response to the

community’s need. It is a community problem and true community begins when we begin serving one another.”

The way Easterwood sees it, one client served by the free clinic is one fewer client to receive little or no health care through traditional means, but more importantly, it results in one more client who can see his or her quality of life transformed through access to doctors, nurses and medication.

The clinic is currently open on Thursdays from 5:30 p.m. until 9 p.m. by appointment. Clients from Baldwin and surrounding counties can receive medical care whether they can pay for it or not.

“Jesus told us that we would always have the poor with us. Why shouldn’t we serve them?” Easterwood asked.

The clinic’s open house Tuesday was promoted by the Georgia Free Clinic Network, which sought to educate elected officials as well as the community about the work being done at the Milledgeville facility, as well as the rest of the state. Local state legislators Rep. Bobby Parham (D-Milledgeville) and Sen. Johnny Grant (R-Milledgeville) were invited to attend.

“What makes free clinics work is the commitment of the volunteers and the community rallying behind them,” Donna Looper, executive director of the Georgia Free Clinic Network, said. “It’s a volunteer effort, and could not happen without the devotion and unbridled passion of volunteers to take care of the sick.”

Easterwood is quick to credit the staff and volunteers at the clinic. Volunteers range in age and background.

“We had some volunteers from Georgia College who were teaching some clients how to eat following nutritional guidelines. But they had the feeling that the clients didn’t have access to the foods they needed to eat to help take care of themselves. Those students worked on campus to get them the food they needed,” Easterwood said. “The volunteer base ends up being positively affected by their service to others.”

Easterwood said the program had been very successful with acquiring grants to keep the doors of the clinic open, but needed to extend its support to the surrounding communities for continued services. Plans are in place to continue partnerships as well as build new relationships within the business, industry, faith and governmental communities.

“We’ve brought in a half a million dollars so far, and 96 to 97 percent of that went directly to patient access,” Easterwood said.

Community support is a strong leg of the clinic’s success, and it is an area that may be depended upon more and more as state budget distresses have caused regulation to increase on grants, often requiring fund matching.

“If anyone has any question with how we run the clinic, the doors are open and we invite people to tour the plant and understand that the underserved in the community have a medical home. We should be proud that the Compassionate Care Clinic serves the marginalized,” Easterwood said. “What we’re doing is no different than what a lot of doctors and medical care providers sometimes do, treating the poor and indigent in their own practices.”

“In Georgia, we’re serving 150,000 folks in these clinics. That is millions of dollars of investment in these communities. It is a huge benefit to taxpayer rolls and is an amazing thing to see,” Looper said.

The Compassionate Care Clinic accepts donations from the community for its operation and even offers the ease of donating through PayPal, available at the organization’s Web site at www.compassionatecareclinic.org. The clinic may be reached via e-mail at 1compassionatecare@alltel.net or by calling (478) 453-0077.

“The reflection of our community is not the aesthetics, it is how we serve others,” Easterwood said.