GUN BARREL CITY, Texas (EAST TEXAS NEWS) – The East Texas Community Clinic (ETCC) is expanding low-cost health care options.
ETCC is a nonprofit community clinic with locations in Athens and Gun Barrel City.
According to its website, “East Texas Community Clinic provides comprehensive primary care and preventive services, including medical care, dental care, mental health, and substance use treatment for people of all ages, regardless of their ability to pay or insurance status. The services provided will improve the delivery of primary care in underserved urban and rural communities.”
Its goal is “to reach into communities, to care for patients no one else was taking care of,” said Dr. Douglas Curran.
The clinic is open to any patient regardless of whether they have insurance or can pay the $25 initial office visit fee. “If you can pay it, that’s great. If you can’t pay it, that’s fine—we’ll work with you,” said Glen Robison, the executive director of East Texas Community Clinic. “We take every patient who walks through the door.”
After more than 40 years in private practice, Dr. Curran recognized the need to help underserved rural areas of East Texas. “I didn’t realize how many people were sleeping in their cars,” Curran said. “We knew we had to do something.”
The Gun Barrel City location originally opened in May 2020.
“Oh my gosh, they came in. I mean, it was patient after patient,” Dr. Curran said. Since then, the clinic has logged about 40,000 patient visits at the Gun Barrel City and Athens locations. Of those, Curran said, 70% have Medicaid or were uninsured.
Demand meant the clinic had to open a new Gun Barrel City location this year, expanding from a four-exam-room site to the current 12-exam-room facility.
The clinics also operate a medical residency program to bring new doctors to the region.
“As an older person nearing the end of my career, I have to admit I’ve wondered, ‘What the heck was I thinking?’ when we decided to embark on this journey to serve the underserved. It’s all worth it: being part of something that makes that kind of difference for a community,” Dr. Curran said about the challenging path ahead.
