Partner Spotlight:  Grayson County (Texas) Health Clinic

  Dedication staff of Grayson County Health Clinic

We are excited to introduce Grayson County Health Clinic in this month’s Partner Spotlight. The Clinic is a long-time Rx Outreach Partner and serves the under-served residents of this north-central Texas county by providing high-quality and affordable primary and preventive care services. We interviewed Sonya Hernandez, who oversees a medical facility's daily administrative processes and staff. She loves the mission of helping the under- and uninsured. Since 2013, the Grayson County Health Clinic has helped 25,000 people and assisted with over 25 million medications!

Can you tell us a bit about the clinic?

Sonya: Grayson County Health Clinic is a residency clinic with 24 residents and two nurse practitioners. The residents are overseen by faculty, so we have a total of 29 doctors. We help county residents on a sliding scale. Many patients can get an office visit ($20) and labs ($10) for less than a copay!
New patients call, and we set up an appointment. We ask that they get here an hour ahead so that we can complete the paperwork. We even take walk-ins if we have an opening and many times, patients can get an appointment on the same day. We always have eight physicians, 16 exam rooms, and two procedure rooms in the clinic.

It sounds like your clinic makes a huge difference in the community.

There are so many benefits to helping people well. Most importantly, they live better lives. We also save taxpayer dollars by keeping them from using the emergency room as a primary care facility. With inflation, our visits are up; we think back to pre-covid numbers back and track and are seeing around 100 patients daily on average.
We hope to start offering maternity care around September and do vaginal deliveries for self-pay and Medicaid patients. And then, we are considering getting someone new on board to help with substance abuse. We are super excited about two great additions to the clinic and hope to have them ready to go by the end of the year.

How do people find out about your services?

Our staff conduct two free sports physicals a year, which helps us find more patients. We see 100-150 kiddos at each event and can give information about our services to their parents.
At our sports clinic, we also have tables set up for other community organizations like the Sherman Youth Association and the Boys and Girls Club; 211 was here too. If someone needs help with their electricity or food banks, we can put them in the right direction. Even the local middle school had their cheerleaders holding a bake sale. We try to make it fun for everyone; we even got donations for a raffle with over 80 prizes from local organizations.
We also do promotions at local shows and festivals and work with 4 His Glory Ministry. They do a backpack giveaway, so we make sure to get our brochures in those backpacks. At times they have given out 700 backpacks!

Did your model of care change due to COVID-19?

We changed a lot to serve our patients better. We had to move to telehealth visits to allow folks to stay home. If you came in and showed symptoms, you be roomed immediately; you would not sit in the waiting room. We also did temperature checks, things of that nature, and asked questions to make sure folks that may have had Covid were separated.
We are still using telehealth visits. We understand that that is still the best option for compliance or transportation issues, and we are happy to provide services that way. It helps many of our patients.

Have you noticed any effects of inflation?

Our visits are actually up; we think back to pre-covid numbers back and track, seeing quite a few patients on average, about 100 a day.

How does Rx Outreach help your patients?

Rx Outreach helps us with the Grayson County Indigent program, and of course, that is an excellent resource because it is so affordable. We need to stretch our money as far as possible, and the discounted medications help with that. Our main goal is to keep patients well. We want them to stay compliant and out of the hospital. We need to have the medication available because we know that it helps them say healthy.

How can people support your clinic and your mission?

The biggest issue for us is getting the word out. Please recommend us to your friends and let them know what we offer here. So many times, I have heard, I wish I had known about you long ago. Or, if my mom had known about this, she might still be alive.
Let folks know we are Grayson County Health Clinic and that we are affordable, often for less than a copay. Whatever possible way we can help the community, we are here!

Sonya Hernandez, Practice Administrator, Grayson County Health Clinic

We want to thank Sonya for her time and her compassion, and the hardworking and dedicated staff of the Grayson County Health Clinic. The compassionate care they exhibit to the people of Grayson County inspires us all. Your partners at Rx Outreach want you to know that your work hasn't gone unnoticed.
Please visit their website for a full list of the services offered at the Grayson County Health Clinic.