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Free clinic in Elkhorn slated to open this fall

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Photo by Terry Mayer

When the Rev. Daniel Sanders told a group of business and community leaders that he always wanted to establish a free medical clinic in Walworth County, he didn’t expect the outpouring of help he received. The clinic is awaiting state approval and is expected to open this fall on East Geneva Street in Elkhorn.

ELKHORN — In these highly divided, deeply partisan times, there is not much folks in any neck of the woods can rally behind in any indivisible, with liberty and justice for all sort of way. Add “health care” to that phrase, and you might have to duck and cover. But sometimes, especially in small places far from the radar of the so-called political sophisticates, common ground is found without even trying.

(Read all of this week's stories from Walworth County Sunday HERE. )

That’s exactly what happened in the case of the Open Arms Free Clinic, which is slated to open this fall in Elkhorn and will be Walworth County’s only free clinic.

When the Rev. Daniel Sanders, formerly of St. Benedict’s Catholic Church in Fontana and now with Lumen Christi Catholic Church in Mequon, accepted his citizen of the year award from the Geneva Lake West Chamber of Commerce last year, he made an unplanned mention of something that had been on his mind.

“The thought came to me, and I said it out loud,” he recalled. “I said, ‘I’ve had a dream for a number of years now of the possibility of establishing a free clinic here in Walworth County. The need is great.’ Then I sat down and everyone around my table of eight said ‘Great idea. How can I help?’”

The offers to help were genuine and they didn’t stop at his table. At the end of the luncheon, he was flooded with even more. Leaders from other churches, doctors, nurses, government workers, lawyers and school administrators have stepped in to make the clinic a reality.

Fast forward about 12 months and the Open Arms Free Clinic is inching closer to seeing its first patients. Tucked into a strip mall in Elkhorn, next to a music store and a martial arts studio, it is the end result of people from many walks of life seeing a need and trying to fill it.

As of press time, the clinic had been furnished and medical equipment secured. An opening date for seeing patients has not been set, but if all goes well, that will happen sometime this fall.

Once open, Open Arms will see patients just one day a week. But Father Dan, as Sanders is known to most folks, would like to see that change, too.

For complete story, see HERE.

At a glance

-- An open house is planned for 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Aug. 29 at Open Arms Free Clinic, 797 E. Geneva St., Elkhorn. Everyone is welcome.

The clinic is across the street from Elkhorn Area High School and next to Breber Music.

-- As of press time, clinic officials were still awaiting state approval to begin seeing patients.

Go online to openarmsfreeclinic.org or call (262) 379-1401 for updates and more information.