On February 4th, an informational meeting was held at First Baptist Belton to discuss the possibility of starting a free clinic in Belton. Herb Cox had approached Pastor Andy with the idea, and about a year ago a small group began meeting to discuss the possibility. Over 40 people attended the meeting including representatives from Helping Hands, the free clinics in Temple and Killeen, Bell Baptist Association, the City of Belton, and numerous other agencies and churches.

The clinic is not intended to be solely a ministry of First Baptist Church, but rather a community wide effort. Dr. Billy Ligon, who has taken a leadership role in the process up until this point, explained that the vision is to offer health care to the uninsured either for free or at a very reduced cost and by doing so to show the love of Christ.

Helping Hands is in the process of renovating and moving into a new facility, and there will likely be room available for a clinic to be set up in the same building. The other location discussed was the Single Best Place building on the corner of the church campus. Two consultants from ECHO (Empowering Church Healthcare Outreach) were introduced, and they shared the consulting services they would offer free of charge should we be interested.  They also answered questions about their services, the start-up process, and various other details of free clinics.

If you would like to be involved in future communications on this subject, or if you would tentatively like to express interest in volunteering once further progress is made, please contact us at (254) 939-0705.