A Roaring 20 Years of Hope, Health and Healing — and $1.76 Million in Free Care Last Year

Last year, the Ohio Valley Health Center delivered $1,755,957 in free medical care to people who otherwise might not have seen a doctor. Patients walked in without insurance or with policies so thin that prescriptions like insulin remained out of reach, and walked out with exams, lab results, medications, and a treatment plan — often the first real hope they’d felt in months.

That care came entirely through volunteer providers and funding from grants and donations. The center, celebrating 20 years of service, operates in Jefferson County, Ohio — a region ranked 75th out of the state’s 88 counties in health outcomes. Here, 17.3% of people live in poverty, and 7.2% have no health insurance. But even those with coverage often qualify as underinsured, caught between high deductibles and low employer contributions.

Ann Quillen, the center’s leader until her upcoming retirement, described how full- and part-time workers skip care because taking unpaid time off or securing transportation is too difficult. The center’s model — point-of-care treatment — removes those barriers. Patients receive same-day services, including echocardiograms made possible by donated equipment and volunteer cardiologists.

Preventive care is central. In the past year, 44 people participated in the colon cancer screening program, four of whom tested positive and received follow-up treatment. Thirty-two men received PSA tests for prostate cancer. A patient navigator helped 91 people enroll in Medicaid. The Diversity Health Initiative highlights racial disparities: Black women are 40% more likely to die from breast cancer than white women, and the gap is wider for prostate cancer.

Funding comes entirely from philanthropy. Quillen’s husband writes most of the grants; last year, they applied for over $400,000 and won about 80%. The annual gala, themed “A Roaring 20 Years of Hope, Health and Healing!,” raises roughly one-third of the center’s budget. Tickets are $65 and available through the center.