Comment on Free medical clinics face pandemic challenges

As hospitals in Linn and Johnson County continue to deal with hundreds of COVID-19 cases, the Corridor’s free health clinics are helping patients who have experienced the domino effects of the pandemic.“People have lost their jobs, and many have lost their health insurance,” said Barbara Vinograde, executive director of the Iowa City Free Medical Clinic.The clinic, at 2440 Towncrest Dr., is seeing an increased demand for its services at the same time it’s limiting the number of people in the building because of social-distancing guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Vinograde said.The clinic quit relying on its 200 or so volunteers when the pandemic first hit last March, relying on its full-time and part-time employees to staff the office.“This really changed the staff responsibility because they had to take over volunteer duties as well as their usual roles,” Vinograde said.