March 23, 2025 • 11 mins
We talk to Jen Webb, RN MSN, and CEO of the Free Clinic of Central Virginia about their efforts to recover from damage to the clinic due to a fire. She explains that the clinic is not funded by the government and needs community support to rebuild and operate. The Free Clinic is asking for donations to help them rebuild.You can make a donation here.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, Welcome to a round town. This is Scott
Stevens from iHeartRadio Roano Clinchberg, including the radio stations WYYD, WROV, WSTV,
Steve FM, and WJJS. This program is to address issues
locally that need to be addressed and discussed. Today we're
talking to Jen Webb, a registered nurse who is the
(00:22):
executive director at the Free Clinic of Central Virginia. She
has a background in emergency room nursing and project management
and is passionate about community and access to healthcare. Good morning, Jen,
How are you good?
Speaker 3 (00:35):
How are you today?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
I'm doing great. I'm so glad to have you here
to talk about Free Clinic of Central Virginia and the
reason that we're talking. Tell me a little bit about
the fire that occurred back in December, December twenty third.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Yes, that's a day I will not forget in the
near future. We had a fire adjacent to our building,
right next door, and unfortunately, the smoke was sucked into
our building for a couple hours, which resulted in quite
a bit of damage from the extended exposure to that
smoke for a couple hours that covered our pretty much
(01:11):
every surface with a black soot that caused damage to
all the surfaces within our building. And we are a
medical facility, We're not a foundry or an auto shop.
So we are in the process of figuring out how
to get back to what we were before Desummer twenty third,
(01:34):
which was a wonderful, clean, awesome medical and dental facility.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Well that is awesome. We got to get it back
to that state. You know, anybody who's ever had a
small kitchen fire, I've had a couple of them through
the years, and just the smoke that that made over
a few minutes time and it takes months. I mean,
you got to wash the walls, you got to repaint.
In some cases, people don't realize, I mean, why would
smoke cause this much damage for a clinic.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
It's it's pretty unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
I mean I left there the next day because we
were there all through the night, and you know, I
knew it was going to take an amount of time
to clean it up, but I truly had no idea
once we got in there and started cutting through the
walls and removing ceiling tiles, just how extensive the smoke
has a way of seeping through absolutely everything. I mean,
(02:21):
we can put things through sterilization and they still come
out smelling like smoke. It's pretty astounding. So yes, it's
quite the process. And it has a way of leaving
sticky all over surfaces. It's pretty incredible. So it is
a gut job of a cleaning process in order to
get us back to a place where we're clean on
(02:44):
a level that you feel comfortable providing again in medical
and dental care, there.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
No doubt about it. So the free Clinic, let's talk
a little bit about the Free Clinic of Central Virginia. Now,
is this a clinic that is funded by the government?
And who do you serve? Who needs the free clinic?
Who uses the Free Clinic of Central Virginia.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Those are great questions we get us asked that all
the time. We've been in Lynchburg, Virginia since nineteen eighty seven,
and I am constantly amazed that people still don't know
who we are and what we are. But in some
ways that's a good thing, because I like to tell
all about us. So we are the clinic that serves
the underserves. So what does that mean? That means people
who fall under two hundred and fifty percent of federal
(03:25):
poverty levels, so a lot of people still don't know
what that means. So that means if you're a family
of four and you make less than sixty four thousand
dollars a year, you are eligible for our services. So
we provide medical, dental, mental health, and many other services.
So if you do not have insurance or you have Medicaid,
you are eligible to see our providers and we provide
(03:48):
services for you. We are here because a lot of
other community based services or doctor's offices in our community
do not have the capacity to take on this patient population.
So we were created to help the underserved in our community.
And again we've been here since nineteen eighty seven, and
(04:08):
those are the patients that we see. Your other question
was in regards to if we take if we receive
government funds, So we do not receive federal dollars, and
we do receive a small amount of state funds. It's
probably about one fifth of our budget. The rest of
it is community donations. You know, clinics, particularly free clinics
(04:30):
in Virginia are really only as good as the communities
that they're in. So we are really here because of
our neighbors who support us and give donations and help
keep us and keep our doors open.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Well in that case, then I immediately as you said that,
I started thinking, you're not going to be victim to
the federal cuts that we're hearing about in the news
because you're funded state and local.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Correct we are, And you know, when you think of
the Free Clinic, really want people to think of us
as really serving the working poor. You know, we help
those folks who work really hard and they just don't
have employee provided benefits and they are making enough money
to pay their rent and maybe their car payment, but
they just can't provide their health insurance or a lot
(05:20):
of the times they're really not making enough money to
get their food. If you get a medical visit with us,
you get to fill two bags with fresh vegetables and
local produce and a food pharmacy that we have. We
have all sorts of wrap around services that we give
our patients that are really set up to take care
of the like I said, the working poor, that's who
(05:41):
we really are set up to help.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Well, that's wonderful. This is around town on the radio
stations of iHeartRadio, Rono Clinchberg, we're talking to Jen Web
from the Free Clinic of Central Virginia that suffered fire
damage back in December. I know a lot of people
listening probably wondering, wouldn't insurance be covering everything that needs
to be repaired and replaced as a result of the fire.
(06:05):
Why do you guys have to do fundraisers to try
to replace this stuff.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
So that's a great question, and there's really two answers
to that. So, yes, we do have insurance, and we're
very grateful for that. So insurance is going to help
us and cover some of the cost associated with our losses.
But there will be a gap between what we have
that insurance will replace and the cost associated with doing
(06:33):
a rebuild of our current facility. And then there's also
the cost of just ongoing keeping the doors open. We
raise again, like I alluded to earlier, we raise our
operating budget every month. So on top of raising the
funds to rise and rebuild the clinic as we have
it now, we also have to raise the funds to
(06:55):
keep our operations going. So we have temporary locations on
Old Forest Road and we're work you know, one on
Port Avenue for medical services currently. So concurrently, while we
are raising funds to rise and rebuild we also are
raising our operating funds to continue to see patients as
we're as we're doing that. So, you know, it's kind
(07:15):
of a it's kind of a difficult thing to explain,
but yes we have Yes we have insurance. But you
know it if if you have a fire at your
home right now, there would be a gap between what
your insurance is going to pay and what it costs
to rebuild what your home was, or.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
The deductibles that we all know about with our insurance,
no doubt about it. Correct, all right, Well, for folks
who are listening who maybe say, well, I can't really
donate right now, but I've got some time. Maybe I
could volunteer. Do you accept volunteer help for the frequenting.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
We definitely do. And with our new temporary locations, we
are getting back to the point where people are going
to be able to come back in and help once again.
For a little while here we were a little limited
with that, but now we are going to be able
to have people come in and start helping again. So
if you visit our website free clinicva dot org va
(08:09):
as in Virginia, there are links across the top where
you can volunteer where you can give your time, where
you can give your money. All of that is built
in with our website, so and there is just a
simple application that you can fill out and that application
protects you and me so that when you do volunteer,
we're both safe and it explains everything that you need
(08:31):
to know there.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Now, while I do not run, I think I even
have a sticker on my car that says zero point zero,
I do not run. I know that Lynchberd is a
running town. A lot of folks like to run, a
lot of my coworkers like to run. And you guys
have a fundraiser coming up that is a run, a
five K run. Tell us about that.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
We do. Do you run if you're being chased?
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Yes, if I'm running, something's.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
After me, or if there's a carrot in front.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Of you, well, maybe a doughnut in front of me.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Well. We do have our Rise and Rebuild five K
that is coming up on March the twenty ninth. It's
not too late to register. Your shirt is not guaranteed
if you register at this point, but we did order
some extras so if you register late and you show
up early to pick up your packet. You should still
get one of our fabulous t shirts we designed. But
it's March the twenty ninth. It's going to be at
nine am. We're going to start at Linkhorn Middle School
(09:21):
here in Lynchburg and it's going to utilize the Blackwater
Creek Trail. We're very excited about this race. The link
to register is also on our website free CLINICBA dot org,
so you can use that website to sign up for
the race. We are looking at about four hundred runners
for this race, so it'll be a great event. It's
part of the Lynchburg Roadrunner Series. As you elluded, we
(09:42):
have lots of runners in this town, so it'll be
a great event. We have some awesome raffle prizes as
well that you can get if you participate. So we
look forward to having our community come out and support
us and surround us as we come back together and
get our c up and going again.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
That is awesome. And if you're listening to this program
on FM radio, it is today is Sunday, the twenty third,
so we are approaching that run coming up this Saturday.
Of course, if you're listening at the podcast, you're going
to have to check your calendar for that and they
can register and get more information. I assume on the website, Yes,
free Clinic VA dot org. That's free Clinic VA as
(10:25):
in Virginia dot org. What does Is there anything else
people need to know about the free clinic and supporting
the rebuild.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Here now, I think that you know, as I said earlier,
a lot of people in our communities still don't know
about the free clinic. And the one thing I can
say is the free clinic was started by a bunch
of volunteers and it has always been supported by volunteers,
and we are we pride ourselves on really bringing up
the next generation of medical providers in our community. We
(10:54):
have student dentist from VCU, we have future nurses, future
doctors from we have future pas from the University of Lynchburg.
We really pride ourselves on helping bring up the next
generation of future providers for our community. And we do
that while taking care of the working poor and those
(11:14):
that are underserved in this community. It's a beautiful thing.
It's servant leadership and it's something that people really want
to be a part of, and it needs to be
sustained in this community. So the long term sustainability on
top of the rise and rebuild is part of what
this community can really get and be a part of.
And I'm proud to be a part of it, and
i know that Lynchberg is proud to be a part
(11:36):
of it, and we're looking forward to the future together.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Awesome Jim Web, registered nurse, executive director the Free Clinic
of Central Virginia. Thank you for joining us and best
wishes for your efforts.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
This is iHeartRadio.
Good morning, Welcome to a round town. This is Scott
Stevens from iHeartRadio Roano Clinchberg, including the radio stations WYYD, WROV, WSTV,
Steve FM, and WJJS. This program is to address issues
locally that need to be addressed and discussed. Today we're
talking to Jen Webb, a registered nurse who is the
(00:22):
executive director at the Free Clinic of Central Virginia. She
has a background in emergency room nursing and project management
and is passionate about community and access to healthcare. Good morning, Jen,
How are you good?
Speaker 3 (00:35):
How are you today?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
I'm doing great. I'm so glad to have you here
to talk about Free Clinic of Central Virginia and the
reason that we're talking. Tell me a little bit about
the fire that occurred back in December, December twenty third.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Yes, that's a day I will not forget in the
near future. We had a fire adjacent to our building,
right next door, and unfortunately, the smoke was sucked into
our building for a couple hours, which resulted in quite
a bit of damage from the extended exposure to that
smoke for a couple hours that covered our pretty much
(01:11):
every surface with a black soot that caused damage to
all the surfaces within our building. And we are a
medical facility, We're not a foundry or an auto shop.
So we are in the process of figuring out how
to get back to what we were before Desummer twenty third,
(01:34):
which was a wonderful, clean, awesome medical and dental facility.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Well that is awesome. We got to get it back
to that state. You know, anybody who's ever had a
small kitchen fire, I've had a couple of them through
the years, and just the smoke that that made over
a few minutes time and it takes months. I mean,
you got to wash the walls, you got to repaint.
In some cases, people don't realize, I mean, why would
smoke cause this much damage for a clinic.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
It's it's pretty unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
I mean I left there the next day because we
were there all through the night, and you know, I
knew it was going to take an amount of time
to clean it up, but I truly had no idea
once we got in there and started cutting through the
walls and removing ceiling tiles, just how extensive the smoke
has a way of seeping through absolutely everything. I mean,
(02:21):
we can put things through sterilization and they still come
out smelling like smoke. It's pretty astounding. So yes, it's
quite the process. And it has a way of leaving
sticky all over surfaces. It's pretty incredible. So it is
a gut job of a cleaning process in order to
get us back to a place where we're clean on
(02:44):
a level that you feel comfortable providing again in medical
and dental care, there.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
No doubt about it. So the free Clinic, let's talk
a little bit about the Free Clinic of Central Virginia. Now,
is this a clinic that is funded by the government?
And who do you serve? Who needs the free clinic?
Who uses the Free Clinic of Central Virginia.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Those are great questions we get us asked that all
the time. We've been in Lynchburg, Virginia since nineteen eighty seven,
and I am constantly amazed that people still don't know
who we are and what we are. But in some
ways that's a good thing, because I like to tell
all about us. So we are the clinic that serves
the underserves. So what does that mean? That means people
who fall under two hundred and fifty percent of federal
(03:25):
poverty levels, so a lot of people still don't know
what that means. So that means if you're a family
of four and you make less than sixty four thousand
dollars a year, you are eligible for our services. So
we provide medical, dental, mental health, and many other services.
So if you do not have insurance or you have Medicaid,
you are eligible to see our providers and we provide
(03:48):
services for you. We are here because a lot of
other community based services or doctor's offices in our community
do not have the capacity to take on this patient population.
So we were created to help the underserved in our community.
And again we've been here since nineteen eighty seven, and
(04:08):
those are the patients that we see. Your other question
was in regards to if we take if we receive
government funds, So we do not receive federal dollars, and
we do receive a small amount of state funds. It's
probably about one fifth of our budget. The rest of
it is community donations. You know, clinics, particularly free clinics
(04:30):
in Virginia are really only as good as the communities
that they're in. So we are really here because of
our neighbors who support us and give donations and help
keep us and keep our doors open.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Well in that case, then I immediately as you said that,
I started thinking, you're not going to be victim to
the federal cuts that we're hearing about in the news
because you're funded state and local.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Correct we are, And you know, when you think of
the Free Clinic, really want people to think of us
as really serving the working poor. You know, we help
those folks who work really hard and they just don't
have employee provided benefits and they are making enough money
to pay their rent and maybe their car payment, but
they just can't provide their health insurance or a lot
(05:20):
of the times they're really not making enough money to
get their food. If you get a medical visit with us,
you get to fill two bags with fresh vegetables and
local produce and a food pharmacy that we have. We
have all sorts of wrap around services that we give
our patients that are really set up to take care
of the like I said, the working poor, that's who
(05:41):
we really are set up to help.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Well, that's wonderful. This is around town on the radio
stations of iHeartRadio, Rono Clinchberg, we're talking to Jen Web
from the Free Clinic of Central Virginia that suffered fire
damage back in December. I know a lot of people
listening probably wondering, wouldn't insurance be covering everything that needs
to be repaired and replaced as a result of the fire.
(06:05):
Why do you guys have to do fundraisers to try
to replace this stuff.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
So that's a great question, and there's really two answers
to that. So, yes, we do have insurance, and we're
very grateful for that. So insurance is going to help
us and cover some of the cost associated with our losses.
But there will be a gap between what we have
that insurance will replace and the cost associated with doing
(06:33):
a rebuild of our current facility. And then there's also
the cost of just ongoing keeping the doors open. We
raise again, like I alluded to earlier, we raise our
operating budget every month. So on top of raising the
funds to rise and rebuild the clinic as we have
it now, we also have to raise the funds to
(06:55):
keep our operations going. So we have temporary locations on
Old Forest Road and we're work you know, one on
Port Avenue for medical services currently. So concurrently, while we
are raising funds to rise and rebuild we also are
raising our operating funds to continue to see patients as
we're as we're doing that. So, you know, it's kind
(07:15):
of a it's kind of a difficult thing to explain,
but yes we have Yes we have insurance. But you
know it if if you have a fire at your
home right now, there would be a gap between what
your insurance is going to pay and what it costs
to rebuild what your home was, or.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
The deductibles that we all know about with our insurance,
no doubt about it. Correct, all right, Well, for folks
who are listening who maybe say, well, I can't really
donate right now, but I've got some time. Maybe I
could volunteer. Do you accept volunteer help for the frequenting.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
We definitely do. And with our new temporary locations, we
are getting back to the point where people are going
to be able to come back in and help once again.
For a little while here we were a little limited
with that, but now we are going to be able
to have people come in and start helping again. So
if you visit our website free clinicva dot org va
(08:09):
as in Virginia, there are links across the top where
you can volunteer where you can give your time, where
you can give your money. All of that is built
in with our website, so and there is just a
simple application that you can fill out and that application
protects you and me so that when you do volunteer,
we're both safe and it explains everything that you need
(08:31):
to know there.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Now, while I do not run, I think I even
have a sticker on my car that says zero point zero,
I do not run. I know that Lynchberd is a
running town. A lot of folks like to run, a
lot of my coworkers like to run. And you guys
have a fundraiser coming up that is a run, a
five K run. Tell us about that.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
We do. Do you run if you're being chased?
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Yes, if I'm running, something's.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
After me, or if there's a carrot in front.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Of you, well, maybe a doughnut in front of me.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Well. We do have our Rise and Rebuild five K
that is coming up on March the twenty ninth. It's
not too late to register. Your shirt is not guaranteed
if you register at this point, but we did order
some extras so if you register late and you show
up early to pick up your packet. You should still
get one of our fabulous t shirts we designed. But
it's March the twenty ninth. It's going to be at
nine am. We're going to start at Linkhorn Middle School
(09:21):
here in Lynchburg and it's going to utilize the Blackwater
Creek Trail. We're very excited about this race. The link
to register is also on our website free CLINICBA dot org,
so you can use that website to sign up for
the race. We are looking at about four hundred runners
for this race, so it'll be a great event. It's
part of the Lynchburg Roadrunner Series. As you elluded, we
(09:42):
have lots of runners in this town, so it'll be
a great event. We have some awesome raffle prizes as
well that you can get if you participate. So we
look forward to having our community come out and support
us and surround us as we come back together and
get our c up and going again.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
That is awesome. And if you're listening to this program
on FM radio, it is today is Sunday, the twenty third,
so we are approaching that run coming up this Saturday.
Of course, if you're listening at the podcast, you're going
to have to check your calendar for that and they
can register and get more information. I assume on the website, Yes,
free Clinic VA dot org. That's free Clinic VA as
(10:25):
in Virginia dot org. What does Is there anything else
people need to know about the free clinic and supporting
the rebuild.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Here now, I think that you know, as I said earlier,
a lot of people in our communities still don't know
about the free clinic. And the one thing I can
say is the free clinic was started by a bunch
of volunteers and it has always been supported by volunteers,
and we are we pride ourselves on really bringing up
the next generation of medical providers in our community. We
(10:54):
have student dentist from VCU, we have future nurses, future
doctors from we have future pas from the University of Lynchburg.
We really pride ourselves on helping bring up the next
generation of future providers for our community. And we do
that while taking care of the working poor and those
(11:14):
that are underserved in this community. It's a beautiful thing.
It's servant leadership and it's something that people really want
to be a part of, and it needs to be
sustained in this community. So the long term sustainability on
top of the rise and rebuild is part of what
this community can really get and be a part of.
And I'm proud to be a part of it, and
i know that Lynchberg is proud to be a part
(11:36):
of it, and we're looking forward to the future together.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Awesome Jim Web, registered nurse, executive director the Free Clinic
of Central Virginia. Thank you for joining us and best
wishes for your efforts.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
This is iHeartRadio.
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