NONPROFIT FEATURE SacredHeart CommunityClinic Local group provides care for residents in need L iz Burton-Garcia founded Sacred Heart Community Clinic in 2010 after traveling with a mission trip team providing medical care to people in need abroad. and diabetes education. The clinic recently expanded to o er dental care. Services come at no cost to patients, but the clinic does request donations from patients who are able to contribute money. Williamson County o cials occa- BY CARSON GANONG
Burton-Garcia eventually turned her attention to those in need back home and founded Sacred Heart Community Clinic as a way to help them. “God gave me a dream to do something in my own backyard,” Burton-Garcia said. “There’s people here that need help just as much as those in Central America that we would go visit.” Sacred Heart Community Clinic provides an array of free medical services to low-income people with- out health insurance in Williamson County. To qualify for care, a patient
The clinic holds regular vaccination events for which information is available on the website.
sionally allocate money for the clinic, but Sacred Heart relies on donations for the vast majority of its funding, according to Burton-Garcia. Patients are not the only ones who can donate. The clinic also accepts donations from community mem- bers, and each year sta leaders hold a large fundraising event—this year it is in April—called the Heart to Heart Gala that brings in around $100,000 annually, according to Burton-Garcia. The clinic also relies on dozens of volunteers to make up the bulk of its workforce. Burton-Garcia part-time sta members and around 50 volun- teer workers, a number that took a hit last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Even through sta ng shortfalls, clinic workers continue to help as many patients as possible. “We ll a void that the health care system can’t x,” Burton-Garcia said. “Our patients are very, very grateful that they have someplace to go that’s nonjudgemental and that truly cares.” said the clinic has 15 formal full- and
COURTESY SACRED HEART COMMUNITY CLINIC
HEALTH CARE TOALL Sacred Heart Community Clinic
holds thousands of appointments and sees several hundred individual patients each year. In 2021, the clinic served:
635 total patients 6,396 patient visits
Liz Burton-Garcia founded the clinic.
CARSON GANONG COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
“WE FILL AVOID THAT THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEMCAN’T FIX.” LIZ BURTON GARCIA, SACRED HEART COMMUNITY CLINIC FOUNDER
OF THOSE VISITS: 5,436 general medical appointments 960 dental appointments
must live in Wil- liamson County, be uninsured and have an income below 200% of the federal pov- erty level. For an
Patients can get medical and dental care through the clinic.
individual, that is currently around $25,700, and for a family of four it is around $53,000. The scope of care provided at the clinic includes acute care for ailments such as fevers and stomach aches as well as chronic care for ongoing conditions including diabetes, hyper- tension and high cholesterol. Sacred Heart also provides nutri- tion counseling, laboratory services
COURTESY SACRED HEART COMMUNITY CLINIC
SacredHeart Community Clinic 620 Round Rock West Drive, Round Rock 512-716-3929 https://sacredheartclinic.org Hours: Mon. 8 a.m.-3 p.m.; Tue. 8 a.m.- 5 p.m.; Thu. 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Fri. 8 a.m.- noon; closed Wed., Sat.-Sun.
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HAPPY HEART. HAPPY HORMONES. HAPPY LIFE.
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ROUND ROCK EDITION • FEBRUARY 2022
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