AllWays Community Health Center opens downtown Atchison clinic with ribbon cutting

Atchison families looking for a closer place to get care will have a new downtown option when AllWays Community Health Center holds a ribbon cutting and open house Thursday from 4 to 6 p.m. at 516 Commercial Street. The event will give residents a chance to tour the new space, meet staff and community members, and enjoy refreshments.

The downtown expansion is complete, and AllWays says the new building is meant to help more patients get accessible, compassionate care in a location that is easier to reach from the heart of town. The new site will house integrated medical and behavioral health services, while the existing Atchison clinic building is being reconfigured into a dedicated dental clinic. The organization says the split should shorten wait times, improve care coordination and expand capacity in a county where demand has continued to grow.

That need is not theoretical. AllWays says it is the only Federally Qualified Health Center in Atchison County and serves as a primary source of care for thousands of residents who are uninsured, underinsured or facing other barriers. Its own materials say 45% of its patients are uninsured and 24% are at or below the poverty level. The clinic says limited space and rising demand, especially for behavioral health and dental services, made the expansion necessary.

For patients, the new downtown clinic is designed to make care more practical. AllWays says the Atchison clinic offers primary care, pediatric and adolescent care, chronic care, urgent care, women’s health services, prescription assistance, health education, community support and resource navigation. It also provides referral help for Medicaid, Medicare and disability applications. Behavioral health patients can see a therapist the same day they see a medical provider, and appointments are available both in person and by tele-health.

The health center also says it is no longer a traditional free clinic. It accepts Medicaid, Medicare and private insurance, offers discounted rates for qualifying patients and does not deny services based on insurance status.

The new clinic is the latest step in a long local effort that began in 2009, when physicians Chad Johanning and Aaron Sinclair launched the Atchison Community Health Clinic with support from Atchison Hospital to serve underinsured and uninsured residents in Atchison and surrounding counties. The clinic became a Federally Qualified Health Center in 2015, and AllWays says its Atchison expansion now gives that mission more room to grow downtown. That matters in Atchison County, where health care shortages in primary care, dental care and mental health continue to shape how far residents must travel, how long they wait and whether they get care at all.