Free clinic taking care of Park City

PARK CITY — The doors of the People's Health Clinic barely have time to swing shut these days before they swing back open.

If you think the economic downturn hasn't made it to an area where two-bedroom condos are priced at $1 million, think again.

Proof of that is the demand on the free clinic that is currently housed in a recently abandoned hardware store in the center of town. In October, clinic director Cecily Huff Smith reports, there were 495 patient visits, an all-time monthly high. For the year, 4,300 patient visits are projected, another all-time high.

And it's not just members of the Hispanic population and other minorities who change the beds and wash the dishes at the local ski resorts who are beating a path to the clinic's entrance.

"We are seeing an increase in patients from all areas," said Huff-Smith. "In one day last week we saw five Caucasian men who had lost their insurance recently. Either they'd opted out because the premiums were too high or they'd lost their jobs. We're seeing more of that than ever before."

What these new customers are discovering is a health-care oasis with a rather unlikely address. In 1999, the People's Health Clinic was established by a handful of local medical providers who realized that even in a high-end resort community, everyone doesn't have health insurance but everyone still needs health care.

John Hanrahan, a local physician and executive director of the clinic, is one of those founders. "We started with a mobile clinic and we were fairly limited in the patients we could help," he says, remembering the van that once served as the clinic's headquarters. "I don't think any of us realized how successful it would become in terms of taking care of people without health insurance."

Almost 10 years later, a steady stream of nurses, doctors and other health-care providers habitually volunteer their services three days every week (the clinic is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) alongside a skeleton crew of paid administrators.

The clinic has a strict "Don't Ask" policy when it comes to the insurance question.

"If someone comes in and says they don't have health insurance, we treat them, period," says Huff-Smith. "We don't ask any questions."

Patients are encouraged to pay a donation of at least $15 for each visit. But if they can't afford that, they're still admitted.

The result, as Hanrahan points out, is pervasive good health.

"As a community we're healthier because of this," he says. "There's a huge public benefit for restaurants, the ski industry, you name it, to keep their employees healthy. It saves us all a lot of money."