Gene White, executive director

Free healthcare for low-income, uninsured residents of White County, a rural, underserved county in north Georgia.

Community Helping Hands Clinic, Inc. (CHHC) is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization that is the only free health clinic for rural, underserved White County, Georgia. 

CHHC provides caring, concerned, and compassionate high-quality health care to the low-income residents of White County who have no health insurance.

Residents of White County, GA, who meet low-income requirements and who do not have health insurance are seen at no charge by volunteer medical professionals for a variety of primary care conditions, including acute ailments resulting from infections, trauma, and adverse environmental conditions, and chronic illnesses such as hypertension, diabetes, asthma, COPD, CAD, and arthritis.

Patients also may be referred to specialists for additional appropriate free care, including dental and vision services. 

Other benefits include access to low-cost medications, prescription assistance programs, and free diabetic supplies.

The requested funds will be used to support and expand the Community Helping Hands Clinic (CHHC) operations that provide primary medical care for the indigent uninsured residents of White County, GA.

White County is a medically underserved, low-income area, even by comparison to neighboring counties in north Georgia.

The county has no hospital, and only one of the physicians who volunteers at the clinic lives in the county.

Unlike the free clinics in neighboring counties with significant urban and/or suburban centers, our clinic does not receive support from the county or city government.

The changes in our operations noted in the previous reports are working well.

Our Medical Director, Dr. James Murphey, continues to volunteer at the clinic one full day per week and bring with him physicians in the Family Medicine residency program at Northeast Georgia Medical Center.

Dr. Barbara Camp serves as a physician on a backup basis.

Our professional staff also includes a Clinic Manager, a Nurse Practitioner, an RN/Assistant Director, and a volunteer pharmacist.

We also have a pool of part-time volunteers who generously give their time as needed for office/clerical assistance. 

To expand our services, a new initiative to enhance the visibility of the clinic was started in 2025.

We created colorful 4x6-inch paper “table tent” A-frame signs that have been placed on store counters, check-out areas, and in other social service organizations and churches.

These advertise the clinic’s name, free services, address, phone, and a QR code linked to the clinic website.

In addition, we have contracted with a marketing specialist to increase our visibility in the community by using social media, updating our website, and creating press write-ups.

We are also continuing to hold community events, including a fun trivia game night open to the public at the local Yonah Mountain Vineyard.

The specific uses of the requested funds are shown in the table below.

They include $5,000 for treatment expenses (diagnostic tests and supplies), $7,000 for employee salaries and associated expenses, $1,500 for building occupancy costs, $1,000 for office expenses such as cleaning, computers, maintenance, and office supplies, and $500 for advertising and publicity.

Treatment expenses: $5,000

Employee costs: $7,000

Occupancy costs: $1,500

Office expenses: $1,000

Advertising/Publicity: $500

Total requested: $15,000

The need for medical services for low-income residents of a rural, underserved county like ours who have no health insurance is great and has increased significantly in the past 20 years.

United States census data and University of Wisconsin county health rankings show that there is an urgent need for expanded free health care in White County.

The population of the county was 19,960 in 2000.

It increased to 28,003 in 2020, a change of over 40 percent.

As of 2021, 18 percent of our county’s adult residents had no health insurance.

There is also a serious shortage of medical services in our county.

The ratio of potential patients to physicians in the county was 3,400:1 in 2010 but had increased to 7,110:1 in 2021.

This compares to 1,520 patients per physician in Georgia as a whole, and 1,330:1 for the United States.

These statistics show that the need for medical services for low-income, uninsured White County residents is great and has been increasing.

Without a free clinic, White County residents in need of primary medical care and without health insurance or the financial resources to cover the high cost of medical care would have to seek routine care at the emergency department of hospitals in adjoining counties (since White County has no hospital) or do without care.

This is an inefficient use of healthcare resources on conditions that could be treated more economically and effectively in a local clinic.

Chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, asthma, and obesity are epidemic in our society. People with these problems require frequent medical attention, at least until their conditions are under control.

Even patients with controlled conditions require more frequent monitoring than healthy people.

Residents of White County, GA, who meet low-income requirements and who do not have health insurance are seen at no charge.

The clinic accepts patients who are residents of White County, who are between the ages of 18 and 65, whose household income is not greater than 200 percent of the current federal poverty level, and who do not have or qualify for Medicaid, Peach Care, Medicare or any other form of health care insurance.

CHHC is the only clinic providing primary healthcare services to the indigent uninsured of White County, GA. 

Some neighboring counties also have free clinics, but they generally serve only residents of those counties.

There is no other facility providing healthcare for the indigent uninsured in White County.

In addition, White County, GA, has no local hospital, so emergency room treatment (inadequate and wasteful as that is) is only available by traveling to neighboring counties. 

The clinic’s services are currently funded by four principal organizations: Americans Helping Americans ($15,000), the Georgia Charitable Care Network ($7,000), the Baptist Health Care Ministry Foundation ($10,000), and United Way of White County ($24,500).  In addition, smaller amounts are obtained from local community organizations, churches, and individual donors.  

Free healthcare for low-income, uninsured residents of a rural, underserved county in north Georgia.

Outcome:

Continuation and expansion of free health care to meet the needs of low-income uninsured residents of White County, GA,

(2) support of the clinic as a training site for residents in the family medicine program of the Northeast Georgia Medical Center, and

(3) continuing data collection on patient satisfaction, savings from use of the clinic instead of emergency rooms, patient health, and health-related behaviors, and

(4) ability of the clinic to reach more patients in need as a result of ongoing marketing and advertising efforts.

FY 2026                                               

Individuals: Approximately 240 patient visits in 2025; 280 in 2026                      

Households: Approximately 240 households in 2025; 280 in 2026

Medical care in America is described as highly advanced but deeply unequal.

There are often high costs associated with getting care, insurance is tied to employment, and even then you must pay a lot to reach the deductible limit before insurance steps in, and the administrative complexity of it all raises patients’ blood pressure through the roof on top of existing ailments.

In 2022, 58% of all debts recorded in collections were for medical bills, nearly four times the next most common type.

It can get messy.

In FY25, Americans Helping Americans® continued to support Community Helping Hands Clinic, the free health clinic in White County, GA.

With a $15,000 grant, CHHC was able to treat 191 patients this past fiscal year, treating them for chronic illnesses such as hypertension, diabetes, asthma, COPD, CAD, and arthritis by a team of dedicated volunteer medical professionals.

Patients are also referred to specialists for additional free/reduced-cost care, including dental and vision services.

Other benefits offered to patients include access to low-cost medications and prescription assistance programs, as well as free diabetic supplies.

The number of volunteer hours totaled 1,974 with an estimated value of $91,965.

Along with treating patients, the clinic also serves as a training site for physicians in Northeast Georgia Medical Center’s Family Medicine Residency Program.

The AHA grant allows the clinic to stay operational.

Our support goes a long way in White County with Community Helping Hands Clinic.