Free Medical Clinic

Organized by Reverend Bill Bouknight (former Pastor, Trenholm Road United Methodist Church) and the Bethlehem Center, the Free Medical Clinic, Inc., was incorporated on April 12, 1984. Reverend Bouknight saw an article in a Guidepost magazine concerning a free medical clinic in Roanoke, Virginia. Following a visit to that clinic, a group began detailed planning to bring a free medical clinic into existence here in Columbia. The clinic opened across the street from Providence Hospital at 1609 Brabham Avenue and started serving patients on May 24, 1984. The original clinic had a waiting room, two exam rooms, a small pharmacy and a small laboratory.