With the economy in a downturn, it is not surprising that activity at the Taylors Free Medical Clinic is on the upswing.

Karen Salerno, the clinic’s executive director, told The Baptist Courier that the number of people filing to determine eligibility has doubled in the last two months.

“We’re averaging 25 new patients per week,” she said in an interview. “Most of the patients didn’t want to ask for help, and some of them have never been in this position before. Many of them are people just like you and me, if the rug were suddenly pulled out from under us.”

When the clinic, located in a former residence on Main Street in Taylors, began offering its services in July of 2005, it opened on Thursdays only. “Ten patients were cared for that opening day,” said Salerno.

“Now,” she pointed out, “we’re open every day for health care except Fridays, which are devoted to administrative matters.”

Salerno said that approximately 100 patients visit the clinic each week and noted, “We have screened for eligibility and provided service for more than 2,200 patients since we opened in 2005.”

Salerno, who formerly worked in computer services and has been executive director of the TFMC for all but a year of its existence, also told the Courier that the clinic filled more than 12,000 prescriptions last year, but by August of 2008 had already filled 14,000.

The TFMC provides more than health care. “When people need food or clothing, or perhaps have been evicted from their house,” Salerno said, “the clinic often is the first phone call they make.”

She added, “The biggest thing is, we treat the body and the spirit. We take the spiritual aspect of our patients’ lives very seriously. We know of more than 30 patients who have come to know Jesus as their Savior as a direct result of the clinic, and we have planted many seeds as well.”

The executive director said the clinic generates a prayer list daily as the patients pass through. “We ask each one, ‘Is there anything we can pray for you about?’ We want all of the patients to feel God’s love when they have been to the clinic,” she emphasized.

Salerno, a member of one of the supporting churches, Taylors First Baptist, said the clinic has two other paid employees – a nurse practitioner and a pharmacy tech.

The volunteer health force includes 35 physicians, 45 nurses and 32 pharmacists who work on a rotating basis. There also is a large pool of volunteers who provide administrative and security services. The volunteers are members of approximately 16 area churches.

Churches providing funding for the TFMC include Taylors First, Lee Road and Hampton Heights Baptist, along with Aldersgate and St. Mark’s United Methodist. Money to support the clinic’s budget – which is expected to increase from $200,000 this year to $350,000 in 2009 – also comes from different foundations, Sunday school classes and individuals “who have a burden for what we do,” Salerno said.

Many of the medical supplies used by the clinic are donated and some are ordered. The clinic’s constant need is for financial assistance, Salerno pointed out, adding, “You can’t help but see the hand of God in this ministry, and he will provide for what he has called us to do.”

She concluded, “This is God’s clinic. He just lets us work here.”