SIDNEY — Compassionate Care of Shelby County is a faith-based healthcare center with a mission to respectfully provide quality care and hope to the uninsured and underserved of Shelby County. Since opening in 2007, Compassionate Care has provided care for more than 22,000 county residents. Patients receive free medical and dental care and are enrolled in their prescription assistance program.
“Match Day gifts help off-set the cost of paid nurse practitioners who care for our patients,” said Traci Milanese, executive director. “In the beginning, local physicians and nurses volunteered to see our patients, but with Medicaid expansion and the shortage of primary care providers, finding volunteer time became difficult for them. Our patient load is at an all-time high and is expected to rise even more.”
With the help of last year’s Match Day gifts, Compassionate Care added a second paid nurse practitioner to fulfill patient needs. As a result, more nurse practitioner hours have increased the number of available appointments and has decreased the waiting time for patients who are seeking care. While this has been a great help, the need continues to grow.
“In 2018, we provided 5,144 medical visits, 337 lab visits and 301 dental visits to Shelby County residents,” said Milanese. “We are at a record number of patient load, currently over 1600 unduplicated, working class patients. Many of these people have jobs that provide no insurance or high-deductible plans and when they get sick, they have little money to cover medical visits and prescriptions.”
To support Compassionate Care of Shelby County on Match Day, gifts must be made payable to the Community Foundation of Shelby County with: Match/Compassionate Care noted on the memo or in an accompanying note or form. Details and forms are available at the Community Foundation website at www.commfoun.com and at Compassionate Care, 124 N. Ohio Ave., Sidney. Gifts must be received on or before Dec. 3 to be eligible for up to $5,000 in matching money.
