WHO WE ARE
OUR MISSION
Established in 2007, Clínica Esperanza /Hope Clinic (CEHC) is a 501(c) organization that is dedicated to breaking down barriers to accessible healthcare. Our mission is to provide culturally attuned and linguistically appropriate medical care and preventive health services to the uninsured of Rhode Island through our CHEER walk-in clinic, Continuity of Care Clinic (CCC), specialty clinics, and wrap-around supports and services.
The clinic’s vision is: (1) to reduce health disparities; (2) to engage in healthcare workforce development; and (3) to improve health self-efficacy in our community. CEHC serves a large population in Rhode Island that is very vulnerable to health disparities because they lack access to healthcare. We address this vulnerability by providing walk-in patient services and health screens in community-based outreach sites. Over the past twelve years, CEHC has successfully implemented (and published) several innovative chronic disease intervention programs, demonstrating the positive impact of these programs, for CEHC’s population of 4,000 patients.
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our History
August 2007: Clínica Esperanza/Hope Clinic founded by a group of medical volunteers. Initially, we operated out of the basements and meeting spaces of local churches and community service organizations – we thank Open Table of Christ for being our primary home during the Great Recession.
May 2009: Opened our permanent facility at 60 Valley Street (a.k.a. “The Plant”) in the Olneyville neighborhood. We moved into the facility in January 2010.
November 2009: Opened a temporary clinic at the AIDS Care Ocean State Office in Providence.
January 2010: Launched our innovative Navegantes community advocacy program, started doing outreach into the community, health screens, and flu shot clinics.
January 2012: Started the award-winning Vida Sana program, funded by the RI Department of Health.
July – August 2012: Organized and opened our CHEER walk-in clinic. The community build around this walk-in clinic has been going strong ever since. Uninsured patients could walk in without an appointment.
June 2013: Article published in the Journal of Community Health studying how much the preventive services at Clínica Esperanza have saved in future healthcare costs. During this pilot 5-month period, our preventive services saved an estimated $1.28 million in healthcare costs, or an incredible $34 for every $1 invested by the clinic.
January 2015: Started the Niños Sanos program in conjunction with URI. This class taught parents skills to improve the nutrition and exercise habits of their children while improving their own understanding of nutrition at the same time.
February 2015: The Journal of Community Health publishes a study proving the successes of the Vida Sana program. The article states that at the completion of the program, “nearly 90 % of Vida Sana participants showed an increase in their health literacy, and at least 60% of participants decreased each of the risk factors (blood sugar, cholesterol, body mass index or waist circumference) associated with metabolic syndrome.”
April 2020: Became a COVID-19 testing site for all uninsured individuals and began testing 6 days a week.
January - February 2021: Opened our "Pop-Up" site at 85 Eagle St. which was originally a COVID-19 testing site. We began offering COVID-19 vaccines in February 2021 and have administered over 17,000 vaccines! The site was also used for COVID-19 testing, health fairs, special events, and clinic programming.
May 2022: Became the first federally funded COVID-19 Test to Treat site in the country! Test to Treat operations are housed at our Neighborhood Health Station at 85 Eagle St.
September 2023: Celebrated 15 years of providing high-quality, linguistically appropriate, and culturally attuned free healthcare, in true CEHC fashion, with a quinceañera! Thank you to all who attended, donated, and to all of the volunteers, sponsors, and vendors who made it all possible!
Summer 2024: Kicked off our "VAMOS! Adelante" project which brings pop-up vaccine clinics for routine immunizations to neighborhoods in Providence. Stay tuned for a pop-up clinic at a community site near you!
We have now seen more than 6,000 active patients, and have had more than 50,000 individual patient encounters since 2010. Since the passage Affordable Care Act, COVID-19 pandemic, and the end of pandemic-era Medicaid expansion, our number of patient visits has only increased and demand for care at CEHC has never been higher. We see many of these patients regularly for checkups and consultations.
Join us in supporting the critical and unique work that Clínica Esperanza does by becoming a volunteer or donor!