- March 6, 2025
The Flagler County Commission is doing what it can to keep the local free health care clinic afloat.
Earlier this year, the owner of the property that houses the Flagler Free Clinic began charging rent, a cost the clinic hasn’t shouldered since it opened in 2005. Rent was charged retroactive to January.
Currently, the clinic, which gives medical care to uninsured Flagler County residents at no cost, is still operating from its original building while paying $1,800 per month in rent. But the clinic can’t sustain itself this way for long, said Faith Coleman, co-founder of the clinic. She estimates it will take a year for the clinic to exhaust its resources, although she said an exact time frame is difficult to ascertain because the clinic runs on private donations, which fluctuate.
The County Commission has started a conversation about how to support the clinic to keep its doors open.
“We are looking at providing a venue for the (Flagler) Free Clinic so it can continue to provide the services it brings to the county,” said Nate McLaughlin, chair of the commission. “The county is committed to helping them to relocate and keep them pretty much in the county seat.”
No specific plan or venue has been approved yet, so as of now, a timeline for relocation and whether the clinic will need to pay rent in its new facility is yet to be determined. McLaughlin said he hopes that if the clinic relocates to a county-owned building, Coleman and the rest of her team will be relieved of the burden of rent, although the clinic would still incur utility expenses.
Coleman said the clinic provided about $850,000 worth of services to Flagler County residents in 2012.
The year before, the clinic gave about $600,000 of services, all through monetary donations, pharmaceutical donations and donations of time from doctors, nurses and volunteers. The Flagler Free Clinic served its 10,000th patient in November.
The clinic is remaining open with the added expense of monthly rent, Coleman said, but the more costs increase for the organization, the more services to the county decrease. McLaughlin echoed this sentiment, saying he hoped the clinic would be able to relocate as soon as possible.
“We’ve made a dent in helping people in the county,” Coleman said. “We are very hopeful that (the county) is going to step up to the plate to help us continue to serve people.”
