Lifeline for needy reaches 25-year milestone in Collier County. What's next?
Neighborhood Health Clinic on Friday will celebrate being in operation 25 years and providing a medical home to thousands of needy residents.
Loyal supporters who have provided financial backing and devoted medical volunteers who offer hands-on care will look back at the clinic’s modest beginnings and learn more about what’s coming in the future.
The anniversary comes at a time when the clinic expects more low-income residents will meet qualifications to become patients because the federal government recently revised poverty guidelines.
A reception at the clinic, located at 88 12th St. N., is Friday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. While invitations were sent out anyone who wants to celebrate from the community is welcome, according to clinic officials.
In 2023, Neighborhood clinic provided $25 million in services to a patient base of more than 12,000 adults who have jobs but are uninsured. If possible, patients donate $20 a month toward the clinic’s overhead.
The clinic’s annual budget is $3.7 million and is completely funded through donations, foundations, businesses and grants; the clinic does not receive any government support.
What made Neighborhood clinic possible is the vision of its late founders, Dr. William and Nancy Lascheid, which has not missed a beat under the leadership of their daughter, Leslie Lascheid, who has been chief executive officer since 2012.
The clinic debuted April 12, 1999 so working poor adults can get medical care in a setting where they are treated with dignity. It saw eight patients on its opening night.
The original clinic site was two storefronts in Grand Central Station, a shopping plaza on its last legs off Tenth Street South, now home to Naples Square condominiums. NCH Healthcare System owned the shopping plaza and loaned the storefronts.
Today Neighborhood has 250 physicians offering services in 25 specialties with support from 100 nurses and 300 volunteers. The dental program has 50 dentist volunteers.
The nonprofit clinic offers health-related educational classes and has a teaching kitchen; it has a partnership with Millennium Physician Group for imaging services and a partnership with Florida Lions Eye Clinic for vision care. The clinic provides patients with their medications.
The early days
Leslie Lascheid was working for Sunoco in employment law in the late 1990s when her parents began talking about their plans for the clinic. Her father, a dermatologist, was retiring from his practice.
Her parents’ plans came as no surprise.
“They always went above and beyond in using their talents to help others,” she said.
She witnessed their passion and the blood, sweat and tears they put into the clinic and knew it would be a success.
“When I came to the clinic in 2012, I was fortunate to work side by side with my parents and that time is priceless because I truly understood what this meant to them and our community. “
The clinic would not have opened its doors without its volunteers, which now number 700, along with a generous donor base, Lascheid said.
“As the safety net of safety nets I realized no matter wat we do people depend on us,” she said.
For 12 years her parents worked to get sovereign immunity protection from medical malpractice claims for medical volunteers with the help of former state Sen. Burt Saunders, who today is a Collier County commissioner. The protection against claims was essential for the clinic to operate.
Dr. Paul Jones, the chief medical officer who has been a volunteer with Neighborhood since day one, said he cannot believe where the clinic is today compared to its early days.
“I have to pinch myself,” Jones said. “I didn’t have that vision at all.”
Leslie Lascheid brought her business experience to the clinic operations and that has been crucial, Jones said
“Her parents were medical with the empathy and compassion but Leslie brought her business acumen,” he said. “She picked it right up and ran with it.”
What have been some milestones?
Besides opening day as a milestone, Leslie Lascheid points to 2001 when the clinic received a million dollar gift to purchase the land, a former car wash, on Goodlette- Frank Road to build the current two-story building.
Jones agreed the move was a milestone, where the clinic was able to design a building with 11,000 square feet that fit its needs and for growth.
“For me, that was something else,” Jones said. “That for me was huge.”
Another milestone was the addition in 2021 of the Van Domelen Education Building, Jones said.
The education building with its large meeting room enables clinic personnel to meet with donors and to hold other events with patients, Jones said. The partnership with Millennium for radiology services on site was another big event that stands out, he said
“Most of that was under Leslie’s leadership,” he said. “She saw an opportunity.”
What’s coming in the future is a three-story pathology building with 11,800 square feet that will be built at the corner of Central Avenue and 12th Street North.
A groundbreaking is tentative for May 1 and completion is targeted for 2025.
A major gift of $2.5 million was made several years ago from William and Candy Raveis, according to clinic officials. William Raveis founded William Raveis Real Estate in 1974 in Connecticut.
The goal is to have laboratory test results the same day when possible. That way patients will avoid having to take time off from work again and avoid getting their pay by having to come back for the results and medications.
The plan includes higher-end equipment for more advanced pathology testing, such as molecular pathology, where specimens now are often sent out of the area for results.
A critical issue for adding the building was addressing a shortage of parking that would result at the campus. The pathology building would reduce the number to 121 spaces from a requirement of 146 spaces.
The Naples City Council last year agreed to waive a $1 million payment the clinic was facing through its “payment in lieu of parking” program for commercial enterprises in its downtown zoning district.
The council agreed the pathology building would not be adding walk-in traffic or bringing more cars to the clinic campus.
Neighborhood is not doing a capital campaign for the construction cost of $4 million to $4.5 million.
“The pathology building will increase the services our patients will receive as well as allow our partner to deliver more services to all of Collier County,” Lascheid said.
“Our partnerships with Millennium created an outline of a for-profit partnering with a nonprofit with both achieving their goals of caring for the community and their patients,” she said.
What about more patients qualifying?
The clinic does anticipate more patients qualifying for its services because of a recent change to poverty guidelines.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services approved the change to the definition of “poverty” based on family size and income from what was 200% of the poverty guidelines to 300%.
A single person at 200% could earn up to $30,120 but now at 300% of the poverty level a single person can earn $45,180 and be eligible to become a clinic patient.
Lascheid said it is tough to estimate how many more people could become eligible but this past week the clinic has seen five to 10 new patients through the change.
The clinic did recently send notices out because in the past it could not accept some chronically ill individuals who made between 200% and 300% of the guideline.
“Getting this information out to the public now will allow those to re-qualify and receive the needed care at no cost to them,” the notice said. “We will be able to care for a larger segment of adults in our community who choose work over welfare.”
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Neighborhood clinic provides $25 million in services a year. What to know
