Vi-Thao Le, an Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner from Kadlec Gastroenterology, checks the foot of Maria, a diabetic patient at Grace Clinic. People living with diabetes have a higher risk of nerve damage leading to foot ulcers. Last year, 250 volunteers like Thao made it possible for Grace Clinic to provide 7,815 total patient visits at no cost to the patients, equivalent to $818,560 at professional rates.
Courtesy Auston James
Kennewick’s Grace Clinic is bracing for a surge in patients. The free medical and dental clinic – the only one serving both Benton and Franklin counties – expects demand to spike as Affordable Care Act insurance subsidies expire and Medicaid eligibility rules tighten under H.R. 1, the federal budget law also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
