Week- long Free Medical Clinic Underway in Dyersburg
DYER COUNTY, Tenn.- Hundreds of West Tennesseans took full advantage of the free medical clinic known as Operation Healthy Delta that was set up inside of the Dyersburg Mall by U.S. Army soldiers, Monday. The program is an opportunity for residents to receive basic medical services at no charge by a team of 35 trained U.S. Army Reserve specialists. “For us soldiers providing the care, it’s a tremendous opportunity to pay back to the community that has supported us over time,” said Maj. Sheryl Tarkildsen. “This is actually an honor and a privilege to be here providing the services.” Soldiers are offering wellness counseling, non-life threatening medical checkups, eye exams and dental extractions. For patients who do not have the money to see a doctor or afford health insurance, officials said their services are life changing. “Well, I went to Jackson and in order to have all of mine (teeth) pulled it was going to be more than $6,000. ” So this helps a lot for people with bad teeth who don’t have money to pull them. You come here and it’s free.” said resident Marie Davis. Military officials said their services will be provided on a first come, first serve basis. More than 150 patients were seen within the first hours of the doors opening, officials hope to increase the amount of visits to more than 200 patients a day. Officials said so far dental extractions have been their most popular procedure requested. “I tried to get all of my teeth pulled because they’re real bad I can’t take care of them like I want to,” said Resident Charlie Maness. ” So I had five teeth pulled.” The only paperwork soldiers are asking residents to fill out, is an information form about health insurance, they plan to send to the Delta Regional Authority. The form helps to identify people who need help getting affordable health insurance. “We are going to give those cards back to Delta Regional Authority and they are going to be contacting the families that filled them out and helping them obtain insurance so they can get the needs that they have met,” said Maj. Tarkildsen. The free Clinic runs Monday, August 3 through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m and on Sunday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. The clinic will end August 13. Army officials said there could be more medical providers coming towards the end of the week to help increase the amount of visits per day. Officials said the soldiers are also prepared to make free eye glasses for patients from August 10 through 13. The Delta Regional Authority in conjunction with the city of Dyersburg and the U.S. Army Reserves are sponsoring the program. For more information on the clinic please contact Dyersburg City Hall at (731) 288-7600.
