FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

 1. What is a “free” medical clinic?

This is a medical clinic that requires no payment from patients/clients. The medical/health care staff are all volunteers except for the Clinical Manager. The range of services depend on who volunteers and what services appear to be most needed by the local community.

 2. Who can use FernCare?

We are currently only seeing individuals between the ages of 19 through 64 years of age who are uninsured. Our mission to also serve the under insured but we have been over whelmed with people who have no health/medical insurance of any kind. We define “under insured” as those with insurance policies that do not cover office visits. Our goal is to eventually open to the under insured but not at this time. This criteria can change with approval of the FernCare Board of Directors.

 3. What clinic services are available now?

We currently provide non-emergency medical care including lab testing, social work counseling, community resource access assistance and dispense generic medication. The number of volunteers we have, patient need and the cost of the clinic sessions dictate what we offer and when we can offer services. We do NOT provide obstetric services, sexually transmitted disease issues or emergency care. There are NO controlled substances or narcotics on site.

 4. How can I volunteer?

SEE Volunteer page. Please indicate if you would like to volunteer to work in the clinic or with the Board.

 5. How can I donate money?

Send your check made out to FernCare, 445 W. Woodruff, Hazel Park, MI 48030 OR use PayPal here on the website. ALL of the free clinics rely on donations, fund raising and grants to stay open.

 6. Can I attend a Board of Directors meeting?

Yes! We encourage people to come to the meetings to both meet the board and to better follow the progress of the clinic renovations and opening date preparations as well has staying current on our other projects and fund raising events.

The Board meets the 3rd Tuesday of every month at the clinic, 459 E. 9 Mile Road in Ferndale, 7:00 – 8:30 pm.

 7. Why put a clinic in Ferndale?

Need.

 8. Is there any one place where health/medical resources are listed?

No. (1) Blue Cross/Blue Shield puts out a booklet “Help with Health Care – Resources for the Uninsured” with a lot of information but not everything. The booklet is available by calling Blue Cross at 313-255-9000 for a copy or downloading copies from the Web (bcbsm.com) in PDF format.

(2) We have begun to put resources here on our website. See both the Links/Docs and Resource pages.

(3) The website www.fcomi.org has a locator page of every free medical clinic in Michigan. There may be a clinic closer than FernCare if you will outside of south Oakland county.

For any further information, use the Contact Us webpage.