Community Medical Care celebrates 20 years

Jennifer Moonsong

Publisher/Jobe Publishing

Central Division

 

Thanks to the vision of Dr. Bharat Mody and the hard work of many, on January 12th, Community Medical Care of Glasgow celebrated 20 years of helping people in Barren County get much-needed medical care.

“My proudest accomplishment is that we have been able to help the citizens with their prescription medication. Many times people were making a choice between whether to eat or take their medicine, this program has helped to repair that in the community,” said Dr. Mody.

In the beginning, the goal was to help the working poor who are uninsured. Over two decades the program has been through many transformations.

“Once affordable healthcare came along and more people were able to get insurance, we shifted focus. Over time we have provided eyeglasses, hearing aids, dentures, and it’s only been possible through a tremendous amount of community support,” said Tina Combs, Program Coordinator.

Jannell Pedigo has volunteered her time to fundraising events for Community Medical Care for years and is a chairperson for CMC.

“I don’t know what people would have done without it through the years. We have done everything from golf tournaments to 5K runs. We’ve done anything and everything we can think of to raise money to help fund Community Medical Care. I can say it is one of the best things I’ve ever been involved with,” said Pedigo.

The most recent transformation of Community Medical Care is its merger with the TJ Community Mission Foundation.

“The TJ Community Mission Foundation is the philanthropic branch of T.J. Samson regional health. Dr. Mody got involved with the foundation early on. His values and vision ran concurrent with the foundation,” said Randy Burns, Executive Director of the TJ Community Mission Foundation.

“It is our goal to work together and support one another as we continue to expand.”

Burns also stressed this did not change the function of Community Medical Care in any way.

“Dr. Mody wanted to make sure he has things in place to continue serving people for years to come,” Burns said.

Thanks to the support of residents, Community Medical Care was able to provide medical needs worth $1,077,120.25 to hundreds of Barren County residence. The medical community provided in-kind donations worth $6,587,359 over the past 20 years.