Jean B. Purvis health center sees spike in service usage
BUTLER TWP — Significantly more people are looking to the Summit Township center for their health care needs, according to the Jean B. Purvis Community Health Clinic’s 2024 community impact report.
The health center, which aims to help people who have no health insurance or are “underinsured,” saw a 32.5% increase in patient visits between 2023 and 2024.
The report, released last week, also showed an 18.18% increase in behavioral health referrals and 21.93% increase in dental care throughout the year.
“For the most part, the vast majority have no insurance,” said Marissa Stenzel, patient navigator at the health center, when speaking at a Community Voices session earlier this month at Butler County Community College.
The center, she said, provide services — including vision, dental and behavioral health — for people who are up to 300% above federal poverty guidelines. The impact on every person the clinic serves is huge, she said.
“If they do have insurance, we can look. Especially if it’s commercial, and they have like a $9,000 deductible, you’re going to be paying $100, $200 every time you go to the doctor, so that we look at as well, being underinsured,” she said.
According to a community impact report, the community health center provided more than $103,000 in medications and more than $10,000-worth of glasses. More than 650 patients received dental services, 126 people received behavioral health services and 17 patients received dermatology care, the report said.
Further, the center’s health and wellness team educated nearly 1,100 individuals in wellness areas.
Through these efforts, volunteers provided more than 2,700 hours in 2024, equal to about $85,000 in service hours, according to the report. Stenzel said the people who provide care, from the doctors to the dentists, are volunteers from local agencies.
Stenzel said at the Community Voices session that the health center is fully funded by the community, and gets no tax dollars for its operation.
“We rely solely on grants, donations, fundraisers we have throughout the year — especially donations, that we rely heavily on,” Stenzel said.
She pointed to some fundraisers the health center puts on to keep its funding flowing — from the annual Signature Sensations event to its new food truck fundraiser, which will take place July 19 at 103 Bonnie Drive in Summit Township.
The community supports the center, and, in turn, the center provides support for the community.
In addition to what the report details, the center plays a role, partnering to make events like the Remote Area Medical clinic happen.
Lynn McKinnis, who works at Concordia Lutheran Ministries, said the Jean B. Purvis Community Health Center was a good partner when she brought the clinic, also known as RAM, to Butler last year. She said the center is imperative to providing services to people without or with expensive medical coverage.
“The last RAM clinic, we had 80 patients have medical — 40 of them got followed up by this clinic (Jean B. Purvis),” McKinnis said. “That’s one of RAM’s rules, they won’t come to your community unless you have follow-up.”
Stenzel said the clinic can serve people on Medicaid, or people with private insurance, so long as they are within income guidelines.
“If they are on medical assistance, then they definitely would qualify,” Stenzel said. “That is 250% of federal poverty guidelines, so since we’re 300, even if you’re on state insurance, you’re still under our guidelines.
“We do see people with insurance and we do see people that have Medicaid, depending on the situation.”
In addition to medical services, the Jean B. Purvis Community Health Center also helps patients access glasses at no charge, and they can get appointments with a psychiatrist to help them obtain medication. Stenzel said behavioral health is an ever-growing need in Butler County.
“If they ran out of meds and can’t get it from their PCP or they got kicked off their insurance, they have to come see us to get their medication,” she said. “We see that a lot, especially with mental health, there is that gap.”
Despite high demand for services through the clinic, Stenzel said wait times are manageable because of the availability of health care providers in the county. She said medical appointments usually can be made within a few weeks, and dental and vision appointments are made in bulk about once a month.
Counseling appointments work on an as-needed basis, because oftentimes a patient will need a certain number of visits before being able to see a psychiatrist.
“A lot of cases we see, they’re seen at the care center, but you have however many counseling appointments before you can see a psychiatrist,” Stenzel said. “We will see them until they get in with a psychiatrist, and then we transition them out.”
