When Dr. Scott Morris first opened Church Health at 1210 Peabody Avenue in Memphis in 1987, he saw 12 patients that first day. Today, Morris’s efforts to serve the uninsured and underserved people have surpassed 80,000 at his expanded primary care clinic in downtown Memphis. His mission? To successfully establish a faith-based health care not-for-profit that serves the poor and uninsured, making sure they take care of their bodies and their spirits.
Growing up, Morris had a keen interest in serving the church, but the thought of preaching in front of a large crowd sent shivers down his back. One day, he was sitting in the chaplain’s office at Yale Divinity School, and he noticed a pamphlet that explained how to start a church-based health clinic. From that moment on, Dr. Morris knew what his life mission would be: to serve the poor by taking care of their health. When he finished his medical residency at the Medical College of Virginia, the Atlanta native (who also was an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church) was eager to start his own clinic.
“I read that Memphis is the poorest major city in America,” he said. “So I knew I was going to Memphis at 33 years old. I was too young and too dumb to have this idea succeed. But in 1986, I started knocking on doors which would ultimately be Church Health.” His mission to connect faith and health hasn’t changed. He is still personally involved in medicine and ministry. He offers hope to his patients by treating the whole person, not just the bodily symptoms of their medical needs.
“We focus on the people who take care of us: those who work to make our lives comfortable. They cook our food, take care of our children, wash our dishes, and will one day dig our graves. They don’t complain, but their options are few,” he said. Church Health, the largest faith-based, privately funded, primary care clinic in America, provides care for the disadvantaged without relying on government funding. Instead, private donations help meet the financial needs of a hefty operating budget.
Treating the whole person under one roof means providing comprehensive medical treatment, including dental, eye, behavioral health, pediatrics, physical rehabilitation, and pharmacy care. Caring for their patients in one consolidated space of 150,000 square feet helps patients connect better with doctors and support staff.
“Church Health is my life. We love what we do. I see patients most mornings—but we have to raise $25 million, so I’m a professional beggar trying to figure out where we get that kind of money annually. If we are dependent on government funding for our work, that completely implodes our mission. Either we get support from our community or we have to let the doors close,” Morris said.
Holistic Health
To understand the mission of Church Health is to understand that health isn’t about the absence of disease. In treating patients who face social and economic challenges, Morris encourages positive health habits for all. The clinic is a resource for an underserved population who would otherwise slip through the cracks due to a fundamentally broken health care system in America, he added. The clinic’s hallmark Model for Whole-Person Care is cutting-edge and based on seven areas of importance: nutrition, movement, emotions, medical, family and friends, faith life, and work.
“Work brings meaning to your life, but your faith life is just as important as anything the doctor can do for you. It’s this model of balancing all seven areas that drives the programming that Church Health has done,” he said. Counseling patients in lifestyle habits for longevity, involving family members in patient care, and providing holistic classes ensure better health outcomes. Church Health clients benefit from free resources that wouldn’t be available to the uninsured or underinsured.
Morris believes that by providing a health care system that encourages a healthy and well-balanced life, everyone can live a life with dignity, vitality, and joy. “We think being healthy is having more joy, more love, and being closer to things greater than ourselves, like your relationship with God or that higher being you believe in. It actually doesn’t have a lot to do with the doctor. In practicality, for whole-person care, these seven things need to be in balance to be truly healthy.”
It Takes a Village
Aside from employing 20 full- and part-time physicians, Church Health offers a three-year training program for those who graduate medical school. Over 1,000 local doctors volunteer their time and talent as well. “If I need a surgeon or cardiologist, they help us voluntarily. As long as the physician donates his time, the patient will not get a bill,” he said.
Church Health is a model for countless communities across the nation. Its latest venture is to offer Church Health Replication Seminars, teaching people all across the country to open their own community health care clinics. So far, 90 clinics have been aided by these seminars. Teaching basic principles for a successful model like Church Health shows how to raise money, implement the clinic, and recruit volunteers. It’s not only important work, it is necessary work, Morris said. “We see people who have no health insurance. These are people who have no path for insurance. So if you get sick, you are on your own. The average undocumented worker has been here [in America] for 15 years. That person is building our houses, and if he falls off and breaks his leg, we need to take care of him. We want to do the best we can to help people,” Morris stated.
Although a challenge, Morris feels that the overwhelming number of people who have insurance assume that the government will take care of the uninsured. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s research, 27.5 million nonelderly individuals were uninsured due to the high cost of insurance. Many of the uninsured are ineligible for coverage or do not have access through employment. Dr. Morris’s advocacy on health care led to the release of his book, “Care: How People of Faith Can Respond to Our Broken Health System.”
“Those who work in our communities deserve better health care options. When they do get sick, we have an obligation to take care of them,” he said. The poor are in dire need, but Morris believes that America’s faith communities who are doing this work already are unsung heroes. Today, there are about 1,400 clinics that operate on private funding just like Church Health, but more are needed, he said. Those who choose to start free and charitable clinics do so because they have a faith-based motivation for the work.
For Morris, the rewards of serving his patients who have experienced life’s harsh realities are enriching. They embrace kindness at every turn. Their stories of healing through Church Health are powerful ones, he said. “I have the great privilege of being in charge of the medical care of people who have no capital. When I walk in to see them, especially my older patients who once were housekeepers or picked cotton, I always ask how they are. Invariably, they say they are fine and blessed!”
