Colorado congregation strives to meet its community’s physical — and spiritual — needs.
By Bobby Ross Jr. | The Christian Chronicle
LONGMONT, Colo. — Something big is happening at the Longmont Church of Christ.
I didn’t realize just how big until I arrived at the church, 40 miles north of Denver, and found a full parking lot … on a Tuesday.
“We have an interesting community outreach program,” deacon Lynnwood Cockerham had said in an email. “The clinic offers all kinds of medical services to the underserved people of our community.”
That did sound interesting, so I arranged to visit while in Colorado on a reporting trip.
I expected to find a little office with a doctor or nurse and a patient or two. Instead, I discovered Hopelight Medical Clinic, a primary care “safety net” clinic with multiple exam rooms and a pharmacy.
I learned that Hopelight is open five days a week and has a $6 million annual budget, funded by Medicaid, Medicare and sliding-scale patient fees as well as grants and donations.
About 125 medical professionals — a mix of full-time staff and volunteers — serve 11,000 patients a year.
Consider my mind blown.
This column appears in the May edition of The Christian Chronicle.
Featured photo by Audrey Jackson
The Ross News 