Free Clinic Opens In Germantown
County, Hospital Help Back Service

By Philip Rucker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 9, 2008; GZ03

Hundreds of upper Montgomery County residents without health insurance have access to free health care with this week's opening of the MobileMed Upcounty Care Clinic in Germantown.

The 3,000-square-foot clinic will provide primary care to residents of upper Montgomery who are uninsured or otherwise cannot afford to pay for medical care. The services will be free or discounted, depending on each patient's ability to pay.

Officials said they expect that the clinic will serve more than 1,000 residents during its first year of operation. It sits next to Shady Grove Adventist Hospital's Germantown Emergency Center, on Germantown Road just west of Interstate 270.

"We have been working with MobileMed for more than a year to plan this clinic, which will expand the health-care safety net for residents in the upcounty community," Dennis Hansen, president of Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, said in a statement.

The clinic is a partnership involving the hospital, the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services, and Mobile Medical Care, which through clinics and mobile medical vans provides primary and specialty health care to low-income, uninsured and homeless Montgomery residents.

"This clinic is a logical extension of MobileMed's desire to provide quality health care to the uninsured residents of Montgomery County wherever the need exists," Bob Spector, executive director of MobileMed, said in a statement.

The nonprofit Shady Grove Adventist intends to expand health-care access to uninsured upcounty residents by opening a prenatal center in Germantown this month. The clinic, part of the Montgomery County Maternity Partnership Program, will provide free prenatal care to about 200 county residents each year who are uninsured or cannot afford medical care.