CORRECTION: Christ Clinic's hours are Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Lara Hamilton became executive director at Christ Clinic in August, and said she is excited to be guiding the clinic as it works to open a second location off Dominion Drive near Kingsland Baptist Church.
Christ Clinic provides low-cost or no-cost medical care to low income residents.
Hamilton said opening a second location will allow the clinic to help more Katy-area residents.
The second location will allow the clinic to serve more patients and was made possible thanks to Kingsland Baptist Church, Hamilton said. The church offered Christ Clinic space in the same building as nonprofits Hope Impacts and Clothed by Faith at a reduced rent, Hamilton said.
“Having the opportunity to have access to six more exam rooms will allow us to place providers at each location and see patients more efficiently and increase our capacity,” Hamilton said.
Having the three nonprofits near one another will increase ability for each to refer clients, she said. A patient needing assistance obtaining clothing can go to Clothed by Faith, while a client at Hope Impacts who is facing homelessness can get the medical care he or she needs in the same building. Hamilton said she hopes the partnership will create an efficient model for Katy-area nonprofits to emulate.
“These are things that nonprofits have talked about doing for a long time, and we’re going to get the opportunity to try it and find out what works,” Hamilton said.
Christ Clinic has expanded staff thanks in part to a $125,000 grant from the nonprofit Americares, according to the clinic’s Development Manager Beverly Allen.
The grant will allow the clinic to hire a nurse practitioner, medical assistant and part-time front desk receptionist, Allen said. The clinic is in the process of filling these positions as of late May.
Hamilton said she wants to expand mental health services. In response to increased demand after Hurricane Harvey, the clinic has partnered with Mental Health America to provide mental health and first aid classes.
Mental Health America also provided Christ Clinic with a grant that allows them to hire an additional licensed clinical social worker, or LCSW, Hamilton said. The clinic has multiple LCSWs who work in tandem with physicians under what is called an integrated behavioral health model. This allows the social workers and doctors to work together to develop more effective treatments for clients with mental health issues, such as anxiety, she said.
“That allows us to utilize the strengths of the LCSW and our physicians to collectively treat these patients that have mental health needs better than if they were working alone,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton said in the future she dreams of sending staff on global medical missions.
“We’d probably have to go in two groups so we wouldn’t have to shut down operations, but that’s something I would really love to do,” she said.
