The
Tileston Health Clinic was started
in 1991 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Wilmington, NC by three physicians from the parish, Dr. Mary O'Brien,
Dr. A Knox, and Dr. Victor Nava, and Sister Issac Koenig. The doctors wanted to satisify a need in the community to provide free medical care for
people in the community without health insurance and to those whose income fell within the federal poverty guidelines.
The new clinic attracted many patients and grew rapidly. It soon found a home in the basement of the
old landmark Tileston School building, located across from the church on Ann Street. Through the years, the Tileston
Health Clinic continued to expand, and in 2007, it moved to its present location in the medical complex
on Doctors Circle and Cypress Grove Drive. The new location is a gift from a generous Wilmington family.
Today the clinic provides acute and chronic care to patients in a six-county area who otherwise would receive inadequate
medical care or no health care at all. The patient population is approximately sixty percent Hispanic, twenty
percent African-American, and twenty percent Caucasian and other. The clinic serves all who seek services
with no regard to ethnicity or creed. All services continue to be given free of charge. Last year we
were able to provide healthcare for more than 3,900 patients.
In response to a
great need in the community, the Dental Clinic opened in 1994 . Today the dental clinic is opened every Wednesday
evening to provide extractions only. Without question, the biggest gap in health care in our community is in dental
care. Our goal for the coming year is to increase the hours that the dental clinic is opened.
Although still closely associated
with St Mary’s Parish, the Tileston Health Clinic is no longer funded by the parish. The clinic,
however, continues to remain a faith-based organization. It is governed by and reports to the Tileston
Board of Directors. It is a non-profit organization, incorporated in 1996 as a 501(c) 3, with tax-exempt
status. The seventeen-member volunteer board is representative of the community it serves.
In sum, the Tileston
Health Clinic provides free healthcare for Medical, Dental, and Mental Health patients, and patients
receive medications from our in-house Pharmacy. The only source of funds to operate the clinic come
from grants, donations and fundraisers, without which we could not continue t o serve the needy.
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MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of the Tileston Health Clinic is to provide quality health services to those who have no form of health
insurance and whose income falls within the federal poverty guidelines.
VISION STATEMENT
Our
vision is to become a community supported organization providing comprehensive healthcare services to all the uninsured and
the underserved in our community.
In everything we do,
we will conduct ourselves with caring and compassion and a determination to improve the health of those we serve.
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