Indiana's A.S.K. Clinic Thrives With Volunteer Staff

In today's America, health care has become quite expensive, and jabs, as well as wages, have declined in the past 10-years. A.S.K. Ministries Health Clinic helps those of us that are less fortunate than others.

A.S.K. was established 5 years ago by registered nurse Eve Bratton and Radha Bathina. Unfortunately, Radha succumbed to cancer in July, 2006, but Eve is still with us and runs the clinic with the help of several local volunteers. One of those to volunteer is Dr. Tom Hayhurst of Indiana. Some of you may remember Dr. Hayhurst for his run for Congress. He's also a member of Veterans for Better Healthcare that fights to keep our local VA Hospital from closing.

Eve Bratton came from Matthew 25 on Clinton Street. She and Radha first started the clinic in the library of St. Patrick's Catholic Church on Harrison Street. From there, Eve was contacted by a couple of local doctors as well as someone from Hispanic United. Together they approached Eve and suggested doing something on the South-West side of Ft. Wayne. "This building became available." Eve said of the current clinic's location. 'It was kind of like a leap of faith. We had no money, but by the time we needed it, we got the money." Could be someone upstairs was looking out for Eve.

The inspiration for the clinic's name A.S.K., came from Matthew 7:7 of the Bible: "Ask, and it shall be given you; Seek, and ye shall find; Knock, and it shall be opened unto you."

A.S.K. is a free-clinic that relies on volunteers and donations from the public. Registered nurse and volunteer Diane Bahr said, "Basically we help anyone as long as they meet our financial guidelines which aren't real strict." Most of their prescribed medications are donated by pharmaceutical companies.

Not only does A.S.K. have the staff to enabling them to give medical checkups to those who qualify, they also have a medications center, psychiatrists, an OBGYN center, heart center, and a diabetics center. There's also a nurse that conducts HIV/AIDS testing twice a month.

It's a first-come, first-served, walk-in clinic. The clinic sees around one-hundred patients per week, and has between 5,000 and 7,000 patients annually. The clinic is fairly equal according to racial figures. No certain race of patients dominates the percentage as a whole. As for children, Eve says, "One of the great things Gov. O'Bannon did was get the Medicaid for children going. If parents bring children in I try to get them enrolled in that (program). As for seniors, "We do assist seniors, but we were doing a lot more for seniors before Medicare 'D'. We still see some because it's (Medicare 'D') confusing for them, so we act as advocates."

With so many negative things happening in our world today, it's nice to know that there are still people out there that are willing to volunteer their personal time making sure others live better lives. And I think that's something we can all learn from.

For more information about the A.S.K. Clinic, call 260-744-9540. Their address is 2513 South Calhoun St. Ft. Wayne, IN. 46807