Chelsie Rasmussen was a teenager who was pregnant, unemployed, and looking for a medical office that accepted Medicaid. he is gone Care of Doctors He went to the clinic in Littleton and found the help and support he has benefited from since his son was diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder.

“I was looking for the right care for my newborn baby. That was all I thought about and it turned into so much more than that,” Rasmussen said.

The food assistance, health care, and educational support Rasmussen receives through Doctors Care are the foundation of the program the nonprofit has developed since its inception in 1988. Doctors in Arapahoe, Douglas and Elbert counties were struggling to serve the growing number of uninsured people. people who need health care.

Arapahoe Medical Association member and neurosurgeon Dr. Gary VanderArk thought that if all doctors in the area cared for just a few of the uninsured patients, they could solve the problem. The effort evolved into Doctors Care, said CEO Bebe Kleinman, who has been on staff for 25 years.

“To this day, many of the founding physicians are still donors and supporters of the organization,” Kleinman said. he said.

He is on the VanderArk board of directors.

Touring the clinic, Kleinman described Doctors Care as a “comprehensive, integrated health care model.”

“We do basic primary care. “We also have behavioral health services,” he said. “We connect people to other services based on need: housing, food, life skills, more complex care.”

Staff and volunteers work to arrange people’s insurance coverage, whether it’s Medicaid or not. Connect to Health Coloradothe state’s marketplace for those who don’t have insurance through an employer or other programs.

People without insurance can pay for care at the clinic on a sliding fee scale based on their income. “But when people need services outside of ours, it’s helpful to have insurance coverage. It opens doors,” Kleinman said.

Doctors Care is staffed by doctors and other healthcare professionals, but they also rely on a core group of volunteers for medical and other services.

“We have about eight volunteer doctors who come in throughout the week,” Kleinman said.

Many of the volunteers are primary care physicians, often retired. Some specialists also devote time to the clinic. Kleinman, Colorado Physicians Insurance Co. or that Copic provides liability insurance to volunteer doctors, making it possible for them to help out at the clinic.

Doctors Care also partners with other organizations to provide outreach through promotoras, a Spanish term for trusted community members who talk to people about healthcare and provide information about the clinic. Kleinman said the clinic’s front-line staff speaks Spanish.

number Number of uninsured people decreased after Affordable Care Act took effect It rose again in 2014. About 22 percent of the clinic’s patients do not have insurance, Kleinman said, due in part to a change in Medicaid qualifications after the Covid-19 emergency was declared over.

“We’re now in an environment where philanthropy has become more valuable and important to us, so we can keep our doors open,” Kleinman said.