The mission of Juniper Health Inc. (JHI) is to provide quality health care within a safe, supportive, culturally sensitive and progressive environment without regard to the patient’s ability to pay. Located in Beattyville, Kentucky the center was founded to provide primary care to a high need area.
Sixty-two percent of those residing in JHI’s tri-county service area (Breathitt, Lee and Wolfe counties) live in a household with an annual income below 200% of the poverty line, and the number of available primary care providers in practice was insufficient to adequately address the health needs of the region. The lack of access to affordable, convenient basic medical care was the catalyst for the establishment of the health center.
The concept of a community health center or similar program to serve the unmet health care needs of a large medically underserved local population was the long-held dream of the Lee County Medical Scholarship Group.Sixty-two percent of those residing in JHI’s tri-county service area (Breathitt, Lee and Wolfe counties) live in a household with an annual income below 200% of the poverty line. This group was formed in the mid-1990s to promote the education of local residents in the health professions, and raise private funds to support their training through scholarship assistance. The community health center would both improve access to affordable and convenient medical services, and would provide a training site for local students pursuing a career in the health professions, offering them a possible future practice location upon graduation.
Understanding that a multi-county application for community health center funding would be more competitive, the Lee County Medical Scholarship Group joined forces with concerned citizens from Breathitt and Wolfe Counties to plan for a program to serve the three-county region.Sixty-two percent of those residing in JHI’s tri-county service area (Breathitt, Lee and Wolfe counties) live in a household with an annual income below 200% of the poverty line.
The tri-county group received assistance in the development of the original community health center/New Access Point application from the Kentucky River Community Care, the regional state-supported mental health agency, which also helped manage the program administratively in its early stage. The center, a federally qualified community health center, opened its doors to patients in 2004.
Today, Juniper Health delivers comprehensive primary care and scheduled after hours care on a sliding fee-payment basis at 2 primary locations and employs six primary care providers (four physicians and two mid-level practitioners).
