Since it’s ribbon cutting in March, Leslie’s Place, the free clinic at Casa de Amigos in Midland, has seen traffic increase.
Crystal Soria, health and wellness coordinator at Casa de Amigos, said the clinic is open from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday. Before the ribbon cutting, she said, they saw five to six people and now it’s about 15.
They also now have partnerships with Midland Memorial Hospital so patients can be referred for bloodwork and radiology, done for free. They also have a partnership with Dr. Mary Grace Bridges at Women’s Health Partners of the Permian Basin to provide well woman exams. They can be referred to a doctor in Midland and that’s free as well, Soria said.
Dr. Ramachandra R. Chemitiganti said they have also been using the sexually transmitted infection clinic at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center run by Dr. Vani Selvan in Odessa. The clinic runs from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesdays in the Family Medicine Clinic in the Texas Tech Building, 701 W. Fifth St.
Leslie’s Place is a partnership with Midland Health, Texas Tech Physicians and Casa de Amigos.
The clinic was established by Leslie Hendrix Wood’s husband Lee Wood, and children Amy Wood and Grant Wood after her death from COVID in 2021.
“Leslie was a visionary and was thankful for the medical attention she received when she was ill, and was aware that many do not have immediate access to healthcare,” a news release said.
A pharmacy and lab will also be available at the clinic to serve the patients for their primary care health needs.
Chemitiganti and Dr. Gregory Barker run the clinic and Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center residents rotate through to complete their studies.
Chemitiganti said it’s very important to have a clinic like this in the area.
“We don’t have anything like this in the Permian Basin. There’s a clinic run by Lubbock Impact … where Texas Tech students and Texas Tech faculty and some of the community faculty … volunteer …,” Chemitiganti said.
There is a children’s clinic about a block and a half away.
“The vision is to have ability to provide women’s health, mental health because the problems that exist in insured people are magnified in uninsured people. Depression is a lot higher; cancer is a lot higher,”Chemitiganti said.
The goal is to have cancer screens, women’s health screenings, mental health specialists and Chemitiganti, who is a diabetes specialist on hand regularly.
“The care I give to these patients is like the care I give them in the center of excellence when they come to see me,” Chemitiganti said.
