Care Free has two locations that provide an impressive collection of primary care, dental care, and optometry services. These comprehensive services result in true preventative care, reducing the overall cost and improving quality of life for our patients.
In 2004, after 28 years of providing medical care for families in the semi-rural community of Mason, Michigan, Dr. Barry Saltman and his Nurse Practitioner wife, Suzanne, thought they would like to pay back the community for the years of support they enjoyed during their careers. They thought perhaps they might identify 50 to 100 people who were without insurance. As word spread, they were overwhelmed with the communitys need and decided to forego retirement to address it.
They thought they would like to pay back the community for the years of support they enjoyed during their careers. Perhaps they might identify 50 to 100 people who were without insurance and open a ma and pa kind of clinic to address their health care needs a couple of nights a week.
The Saltmans realized they would not be able to limit the patient numbers. After a lot of consideration and discussion, they decided to try to accommodate as many needy patients as they could. The Saltmans decided to forego retirement.
From the early days of Care Free, the business plan has been to accommodate donations of time, services, supplies, and housing. For example, despite the fact that there was no intention to extend care from Mason to Lansing, it was impossible to say no to the generous offer of Dr. and Mrs. Pablo Quiroga to accept their donation of a comfortable and well-outfitted medical office in a well established and strategically located professional condominium in Lansing. In a very short time, the needs of large numbers of people in the Lansing community overwhelmed the space of this office and it became necessary to lease another office.
John Schneider, a well respected feature writer in the Lansing community, got wind of our plans and conducted an interview that was reported in the Lansing State Journal. The next day, I answered over 150 phone calls. One third were from people looking for dental care, one third requesting medical care, and one third offering help, in one fashion or another; from physicians, nurses, and medical assistants to a grandmother asking if she might do Care Frees laundry while baby-sitting her grand-children.
The free Optometry Clinic exists because two local Optometrists, Dr Len Silverman and Dr Mitch Dobrzelewski, after accepting Care Free patients in their offices, decided that they would set up a free clinic on site, at Care Free. Patients are able to obtain free or affordable eye examinations and glasses, if needed.
The Director of the Michigan State School of Social Work, moved by articles about Care Free in the local media, established a relationship with some of his graduate students and Care Free that enables us to provide 65-80 hours per week of on-site mental health counseling. This is further made possible by PhD candidates from the MSU Department of Psychology.