If not for Good Samaritan Health Center, Trenace Langford said she would waste many hours in Grady Memorial Hospital's emergency room.

She would wait amid the ER patient crush to get care for high cholesterol and other ailments.

File photos (ENLARGE)

Pediatrician Bill Warren examines Fernando Tello, 10, at Good Samaritan Health Center. The Atlanta clinic is one of about 100 charitable clinics in Georgia that care for the state's 1.7 million uninsured residents. Good Samaritan is staffed by volunteer physicians, nurses and other medical professionals.

(ENLARGE)

Pediatrician Bill Warren holds a pacifier for Rodolfo Felipe as he examines him at Good Samaritan Health Center. Warren started the clinic in 1999 with the help of a volunteer staff.

The 51-year-old Atlanta woman is among the 1.7 million Georgians who have no health insurance, a plight that often forces those with untreated illnesses and chronic conditions to rely on emergency rooms for medical services.

But instead of going to Grady, Langford makes regular, $25 visits to Good Samaritan. The downtown Atlanta center is one of about 100 charitable clinics, staffed by volunteer physicians, that have sprouted in Georgia since the 1990s to serve the uninsured.

The clinics' capacity is not nearly enough. Good Samaritan turns away up to 300 patients a week.

Good Samaritan, with its hallways lined with biblical passages, annually treats hundreds of patients like Langford.

Good Samaritan's care is excellent, Langford said. "This place is a blessing."

Dr. Bill Warren left a Sandy Springs pediatrics practice to start Good Samaritan in 1999, converting an old paint store. Doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners are volunteers and embrace the Good Samaritan mission: "Spreading Christ's love through quality health care to those in need."

Patients pay a fee based on income and family size. About 80 percent are uninsured and classified as working poor.

"They're out earning a living, but they don't have health insurance," Warren said.

Another 10 percent are homeless and get free care; the rest are covered by government insurance programs.

The clinic treats immigrants, both legal and illegal, Warren said.

"Our government has chosen not to do anything about [illegal immigration]," he said. "If an immigrant mother comes in here, it's a moral obligation to treat that child. They're victims."

A new state law giving malpractice immunity to volunteer physicians has helped create new clinics, said Donna Looper of the Georgia Free Clinic Network. Many are affiliated with churches.

The largest full-service free clinic in the state began in a restroom of a community center in a Gainesville housing project in 1992.

The Good News Clinics has grown to a center on Pine Street that treats 1,450 medical and dental patients per month.

The health center looks like a regular doctor's office, with a laboratory, an X-ray room, multiple exam rooms and a pharmacy of free medicines.

Patient visits are free. Funding sources include United Way, private donations, businesses, and contritutions from churches and a foundation of Northeast Georgia Medical Center.

Good News' success helps that hospital, too, said Cheryl Christian, executive director of Good News. Treating a sore throat costs $270 in the ER; at the clinic, it costs $29, she said.

Despite Good News' capacity to serve so many patients, it still has trouble meeting an increasing demand for services. New patients must wait up to five weeks for appointments unless urgent care is needed.

"We see more and more small companies not able to offer [health insurance] to employees," Christian said. "The patients we see are largely working entry-level positions."

Ricky Griffin recently came in for major dental work.

A part-time worker, Griffin, 48, of Oakwood, has not had health insurance for years. But Good News has treated his dental needs, pulling several decayed teeth.

"I couldn't afford to do this, and I needed it real bad," Griffin said. "I appreciate this being here."

— This article is a reprint from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.