Westside Samaritans Clinic has expanded its services and opened a new location in Gainesville.
The expansion, dubbed Samaritans Healthcare, is the result of a partnership with Gainesville OBGYN in an effort to bring obstetric services for Medicaid and uninsured expectant mothers, said physician and clinic director Dr. Roy Klossner.
The long-term objective is to move general services over to the new building, located at 1201 SW 64th Terrace, behind North Florida Regional Medical Center.
“The goal ultimately is to … offer full-spectrum primary care,” Klossner said. “They call it ‘from womb to tomb.’”
The original clinic, based out of Westside Baptist Church, offers primary, dental and behavioral health care as well as eye exams and free glasses, Klossner said.
The services are open to patients who don’t have insurance, have incomes at a certain federal poverty level or qualify under state guidelines.
“For now we want to keep both locations open because we see a different kind of clientele,” Klossner said.
Director of operations Brenda Belote said the clinic sees patients Thursdays from 5 to 8 p.m., but space is limited.
“You may have a Bible study class in here on Sunday morning,” she said. “Then on Thursday night, you have an exam room.”
Before the new health care center can expand its services, Belote said the clinic needs to write grants. It also needs to find a full-time family practice doctor and support staff, which could take a couple years.
“Right now we’re just taking baby steps toward expanding this,” she said, “but we will still be here on Thursday evening.”
Kelley Rojas, a 20-year-old UF biology graduate and volunteer coordinator at the clinic, said she doesn’t believe the expansion will hinder service at the clinic.
“There’s actually people employed, and there’s a staff, so I don’t think it will really affect us,” said Rojas. “Plus, we have a lot of volunteers that come.”
[A version of this story ran on page 4 on 2/3/2014 under the headline "Women’s clinic opening new location"]
