Free low-income health clinic moves to Waterford – Burlington site lost when Western Racine Health Department closed

By Jennifer Eisenbart

Staff writer

As most area communities began the transition from one public health provider to another this week, almost lost in the shuffle was the Health Care network.

The Health Care Network, a free clinic that serves low-income residents in Racine County, had been maintaining offices in Racine and in Burlington at the Western Racine County Health Department office.

However, with Western Racine closing as of Dec. 31 and being replaced by Central Racine County Health Department out of Franksville, officials with the Health Care Network want to make sure people in the west end know where to find them now.

The new western Racine County home for the Health Care Network is the Aurora Clinic in Waterford, 818 Forrest Lane, weekly on Wednesdays.

“I will say that the people who are most worried about it are patients,” said Alison Sergio, the executive director. “They were worried that, ‘If I don’t have a place to go, I don’t have health care.’

“And that’s the bottom line,” Sergio added.

The Health Care Network provides health care – and in the City of Racine, dental care – for low-income people who do not qualify for Badger Care because their household income is at or higher than 100 percent of the Federal Poverty Level

The federal guideline for that requirement is set every year. “It depends on how many people you have in your family,” Sergio said.

Sergio said the clinic schedules about 1,000 appointments at the western Racine County location every year.

“We have three different volunteers, doctors, and several different volunteer nurses,” Sergio said. “It’s emergency care. It’s when you want to go see your doctor.”

The clinic provides referrals and prescriptions when needed as well.

Sergio said the need for the service is great.

“Before Obamacare kicked in and Badger Care requirements changed, we were seeing more people,” Sergio said. “But not by a ton.”

She said the two sites served would see between 8,500-9,000 annually. Without November or December counted, there have been 6,200 appointments in 2014, Sergio said.

“It’s an absolutely needed service,” she added.

The network will also help people who don’t meet the Health Care Network requirement apply for either Badger Care or find an insurance program through the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

“We have certified application counselors on staff who are there to help people apply,” Sergio said.

She said the important thing for people to remember is that while Badger Care and Obamacare should, in theory, provide health care insurance for everyone, the reality is that it does not.

“There is a sliver of the population that fall through the cracks,” Sergio said. “Those are the people that Health Care Network helps.”

The Racine location – at 904 State St. – is open 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. The Waterford location has hours on Wednesday mornings, varying by the number of appointments.

However, Sergio said people may come to the Racine location if they can’t wait to see a doctor on a Wednesday.

The phone number to the Health Care Network inside the Waterford clinic is (262) 514-8154.