Spotlight on: Manna Ministries Medical Clinic – Picayune, Mississippi

Manna Ministries Medical Clinic—one of 400-plus safety net clinics supported by AmeriCares—is a free clinic in southwestern Mississippi. Since 2010, AmeriCares has donated more than $450,000 in medicines and medical supplies to the clinic, including devices and medications for patients with diabetes, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

The Need

Mississippi has the lowest per-capita income of any state, and is ranked last among all states for health care. Since its founding in 1999, Manna Ministries has provided more than $4 million in services and assistance to impoverished families in the community in and around the city of Picayune. Its clinic provides the uninsured with general primary care, diagnostic laboratory services, and urgent medical care. In addition, the clinic helps patients with enrollment paperwork for programs that enable patients to receive free or reduced rate prescription medications. Manna Ministries also provides food and clothing to approximately 600 families every week.

The clinic played an important role as the sole medical provider in the community after Hurricane Katrina, when the local hospital sustained significant damage and could not treat patients. 

Resources 

• Visit Free Clinics Today, our innovative online resource guide for America’s free clinics and nonprofit health centers.

•  Download the special report: Addressing Resource Gaps in the U.S. Health Care Safety Net—the first nationwide study of free clinic resource needs