The Ann Silverman Community Health Clinic (ASCHC), housed on the ground floor of Doylestown Hospital, is a beacon of hope for individuals and families who live in Bucks County.

Celebrating its 30^th year, its mission is to impact the daily lives of low-income, uninsured individuals by providing free medical, dental, and behavioral health care. This appealed most to Meri Luarasi Gaumond when she took the position as the clinic’s fourth executive director in 2023.

“We are volunteer driven with 234 dedicated individuals that welcome our patients, as well as a board of 18 distinguished community members who give their time and treasure,” said Gaumond. “We have 10 dedicated staff members, 6 full-time and 4 part-time, who believe in the mission, and we couldn’t do what we do without them.”

Annually, ASCHC assists 2,600 patients and plans to hire staff to accommodate as many as 3,000. Without the clinic, the only options for these patients would be to ignore their health or to visit the emergency room when health problems become severe. Neither of these options benefit the individual or their family and strain the hospital’s emergency services. Not surprisingly, many patients are referred to ASCHC upon an ER visit. A lot of them are struggling, having experienced a change in life circumstances, such as a layoff, divorce, loss of a home, or other circumstances that make it impossible to obtain the healthcare they need.

“Integration of medical, dental, and behavioral health happens in real time and by doing so we are taking care of the whole person,” said Gaumond. “Once you address dental and physical health, what’s left are situations with depression, stress, and PTSD,” she continued. “We deal a lot with abuse, alcohol, and brokenness.” Amongst the children, clinicians see many who have stress from being bullied in school which often results in depression, eating disorders, withdraw, and suicidal ideation.

The clinic’s effectiveness is evident in its patients, like one stay-at-home mother of three who came to the clinic after having been divorced and abandoned by her husband. She suffered from high blood pressure, diabetes, and general trauma. “We restored her,” said Gaumond. “She stayed with the clinic for a year and a half and then went back to work. That is what the clinic does. We are a medical home in the business of restoring lives for low-income people in the community.”

Supported only by philanthropic means, ASCHC makes a measurable impact. Consider one diabetic patient who suffers from lupus, a chronic, complex autoimmune disease that causes widespread inflammation and tissue damage in the affected organs. The clinic was able to manage his diabetes so well that he was able to stop taking insulin which also improved his lupus symptoms. In another case, a young father, who was born with acromegaly, a rare disease of the pituitary gland that causes extremities to grow larger than normal, came to the clinic for treatment. In collaboration with a surgeon, the patient underwent successful surgery to stop the growth. “I was in pain before the surgery and couldn’t even hold my child,” the patient remarked. Seeing an adult reduced to tears of happiness from receiving proper care illustrates the clinic’s impact.

By combining treatment types under one roof, the clinic can address the physical and mental health of families. “One of the aspects of our clinic that I’m so proud of is that these patients often don’t have transportation, so we coordinate the services to the level that we plan for the whole family to be at our clinic at the same time,” said Gaumond. “You may have the father in behavioral health, mother in medical, the son in the dental program and they come in one car or we Uber them here together.”

To promote proper care and improve the overall health of its patients, ASCHC clinicians meet them four times a year rather than only once. Four of the clinic’s staff run the pharmaceutical assistance program which helps with medication needs. They secure over $1 million annually in donated services from pharmaceutical companies to ensure people get the medications they need.

In the future, ASCHC will spend more time focusing on women’s health issues. Further, the clinic started a wellness series covering broader topics of both women’s and men’s health and was pleasantly surprised by the demand from its patients. Having surveyed the attendees, the program will likely expand. Finally, the clinic now offers monthly patient focused topics based on diagnoses such as heart health, diabetes, hepatitis, mental health, aging, etc. This added educational component aids patients in taking an active role in their own wellness.

Two recent grants from Foundations Community Partnership (FCP), one for capital improvements and the other for operating support, have been pivotal in bringing much needed change to ASCHC. For the last 10 years, the administrative offices which are used for meetings and patient screenings for behavioral health have had neither heat nor air conditioning. A $10,000 capital improvement grant contributed toward fixing the space, as well as upgrading the patient screening area from a sterile looking room to a comfortable suite. The remainder secured a laptop and a tablet for patients to use FaceTime for Language Line. This valuable tool allows the clinic the ability to serve its patients who represent 30 different nationalities and speak 12 different languages. FCP is one of the few funders that allows nonprofits to apply for operational support, Gaumond noted. For an organization like ASCHC that receives no federal funds and relies on donations and grants to fulfill its million-dollar budget, “it is so meaningful that they hear us, that they know where we are hurting, and that they make these types of funds available,” she added. “The unwavering support of volunteers and donors who believe in diversity and equality among all people is so unbelievable that I sit in awe and gratitude.”



For more information and to support the Ann Silverman Community Health Clinic, visit www.aschealthclinic.org.