Catholic Charities’ Mother of Mercy Free Medical Clinics: Providing Quality Healthcare for Diocese of Arlington’s Underserved
IVC Partner Agency Catholic Charities’ Mother of Mercy (MoM) Free Medical Clinics is bringing better health – and opportunities for a healthier future – to Prince William County, Virginia, residents in need. The clinics – located in Manassas and Woodbridge – provide no-cost basic medical care to low-income adults who are uninsured or under-insured. “Our patients are at or below 300% of the federal poverty level, and the majority require interpretation services,” says Program Director Alexandra Luevano. “We consider ourselves their medical home.”
The Manassas clinic opened in late 2017, offering appointments for annual physicals, disease management, nutrition, sick visits, prenatal care, health
classes and referral to medical services. The Woodbridge clinic’s doors opened in 2020, expanding programs to include podiatry, optometry, and exercise classes. Today the clinics average 5,800 annual medical visits from 1,750 unique patients.
Providing patient care are doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals, along with administrative staff who volunteer their time and talent at both locations. “We are the only Catholic free clinics in Northern Virginia,” Alexandra says. “We also receive patients in need of prenatal care from across the diocese. Our goal is to make sure that anyone who comes into the clinics sees the light of Christ through the work that we do.”
IVC has partnered with MoM since 2020, providing staffing support where most needed. This year, IVC members Matilde Pinto and Lynn Magrum are each serving eight hours a week at the clinics. They enjoy their roles!
Matilde provides real-time Spanish interpretation services between health care providers and patients, enabling accurate diagnoses and treatment options. She’s grateful to facilitate communication for essential health services. Her background as a native Spanish speaker and retired international health economist provides better insight to understand situations faced by immigrant patients.
“Some patients come from countries with very poor healthcare systems, most in Central America, and have chronic conditions,” she notes. Helping them get well and staying well has been a rewarding experience. Adds Alexandra, “the majority of our providers are not bilingual, so having an interpreter get everything across for the patients is invaluable. Having the consistency of someone interpreting in Matilde’s case has been great.”
Lynn has put her career as a nurse practitioner to good use in the same role at MoM, working with adults who have a variety of medical conditions. “The staff of the clinic are wonderful to work with and just knowing I can assess, diagnose and treat allows the patients I see have an improved quality of life,” she says. “We do a lot of patient education and I’m able to teach them how to live a healthy life and eat well.”
Both Matilde and Lynn enjoy taking part in IVC spiritual reflections and City Group meetings that deepen their service commitments. “Each of us has a different spiritual or prayer life but coming together provides common understanding for all of us, the purpose for why we are doing all of this – to follow Jesus’ path,” Matilde says. Lynn especially enjoys gathering to share experiences and scripture. “It’s a non-judgmental and affirming community.”
Learn more about the ministries provided by Catholic Charities Diocese of Arlington.