Shenandoah County Living
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ENJOY! APRIL 2016
Clinic offers medical, dental and mental health services By Kaley Toy WOODSTOCK - In 2015, the medical clinic at the Shenandoah Community Health Clinic saw 700 patients during 3,000 visits and its dental clinic saw 1,100 patients during 2,000 visits. The clinic, also known as the Shenandoah Free Clinic, offers medical, dental and mental health services to Shenandoah County residents who are uninsured or underinsured and fall below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, according to Pam Murphy, the clinicʼs executive director. There are 16 part-time employees between the two clinics and 30 volunteers who work weekly, as well as volunteers who help out a few times throughout the year. Among the helpers at the clinic are students from James Madison University and Lord Fairfax Community College. “We could always use more volunteers,” Murphy said, explaining that volunteering could involve medical or dental assistance, or bringing in meals for the volunteer staff.
Rich Cooley/Daily
Pam Murphy, executive director of the Shenandoah Community Health Clinic in Woodstock, sits inside one of the clinicʼs five medical rooms. This room also serves as an office for mental health services, which the clinic started offering last year.
nesses, while the dental clinic sees more children.
There are five medical rooms On Thursday nights, they try to in the clinic. Within the medical have meals for volunteers to clinic, rooms are also set up thank them for their time and with chairs to accommodate commitment. mental health discussions that need to be conducted in a The clinic is actually two clinics, and both the medical and more comfortable environdental clinics are handicapped ment, as “we started offering more mental health, behavioral accessible. health services,” Murphy said. There is a separate entrance and extra wide doors to med- There are psychiatric nurse practitioners and a counselor ical and dental rooms to accommodate those in wheel- on staff for these services. chairs. “If we can help you get a grip on whatʼs wrong and help you “Almost everyday we have a get past it,” she said, “And that van pull up from the nursing happens through talking and home with someone in a wheelchair. It is set up (so) we listening and being guided to think about ʻyouʼre really can actually bring a bed in stronger than you think you here,” Murphy said. areʼ.” One change at the clinic made “Itʼs definitely something weʼre within the past year was contrying to grow,” she said. verting to an electronic medical records system, she said, One of the medical rooms is noting that has saved time and also set up as a gynecology room for PAP exams and other has made information more cancer screening exams. readily available.
Hospital. Dental clinic services include routine cleanings and exams, restorative care and extractions and holds seven chairs. The dental clinic provides care primarily to families with Medicaid coverage as other dentist offices usually donʼt accept Medicaid for dental procedures, Murphy said. The health clinic is open Monday through Thursday. The medical clinic is generally open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursdays. The dental clinic is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday. Times may vary depending on staffing.
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The clinic is located at 124 Valley Vista Drive in Woodstock. For more information visit its website at http://shenclinic.org. To reach the medical clinic, call 540459-1700. For the dental clinPatients seen between the two A lab is also set up in the clinic ic, call 540-459-9333. Rich Cooley/Daily Contact staff writer Kaley Toy Dr. Joan Pino and dental assistant Candy Taylor work on a for basic testings, but tests clinics vary. Murphy said the at 540-465-5137 ext. 176, or can also be sent to medical side tends to see patient in one of the seven dental chairs that are available at the ktoy@nvdaily.com Shenandoah Memorial Shenandoah Community Health Clinic in Woodstock. more adults with chronic ill-