Crossroads Medical Mission gets a permanent home | Business News

BRISTOL, Va. – The former site of a downtown home improvement business is now the first permanent home for Twin City health care provider Crossroads Medical Mission.

For more than 20 years, Crossroads has provided free primary care for the area’s uninsured and underinsured through mobile medical clinics. On Wednesday, staff members showcased their new clinic at 433 Scott St., just across from Bristol Virginia City Hall. It is scheduled to see its first patients in early June, according to Executive Director Cindy Rockett.

“We have always stepped out on faith. From the very beginning when Dr. [Paul] Derden and Dr. [Tim] Schwob stepped out to start Crossroads Medical Mission. God put in our path fabulous staff, great volunteers and financial supporters; patients who need us and love us and we love them,” Rockett said.

“This building is a big step in faith to serve the people of Bristol and the surrounding area. We hope people get the message that we are ready to help people – both with our mobile clinic and now with our stand-alone clinic,” she said. “We’re here to serve all God’s children.”

Crossroads saw its first patient in 2002, more than 25,000 patients since its inception and expansion has been in their strategic plan for about 10 years, Rockett said.

“We knew we needed more of a presence downtown and this just all fell in line,” she said.          

The one-story structure at 433 Scott St., includes four exam rooms and they plan to open the facility on Tuesdays and Thursdays initially and expand the schedule as need arises.

Regular mobile clinics, including the one at Haven of Rest Rescue Mission will continue uninterrupted.

In 2021, Crossroads treated about 700 patients from the greater Bristol area. In its peak year it treated about 1,500, Rockett said.

“We are designed for people who are uninsured however, we also see patients who are under-insured and maybe can’t make a high deductible,” she said.

Derden said they established the mission to help people address basic health needs and prevent trips to local emergency rooms.

“Tim Schwob and I were working in the emergency room and would see patients who came in with heart attacks, strokes and other issues that could have been prevented or lessened with a modicum of primary care – blood pressure, getting blood sugars under control, those kinds of things,” Derden said. “They were basically coming in crashing and burning. We realized these people are avoiding care because they can’t afford it then — when they have a crisis — they’re forced to come to the emergency room – the most expensive place and the least forgiving.”

While the needs have shifted somewhat, plenty of need remains, Derden said.

“We wanted to provide proper services for the folks who were falling through the cracks of the health care system. Over the years those cracks have changed, but there are still people falling through the cracks. People who aren’t qualified for Medicare, people who have lost their job and their insurance or can’t afford the copay or the deductible, or just don’t have the income to cover it,” Derden said. “Until our national health care is overhauled so that everyone can get affordable health care, there will be a need for the mission. The need has not gone away.”

Bristol Virginia Councilman Bill Hartley praised Crossroads’ efforts when he visited the clinic Wednesday.

“Crossroads Medical does great things for our community,” Hartley said. “We are fortunate we’re able to help fund some of this through Community Development Block Grant. Your mobile mission has been great, but having a facility right here, close to downtown, I’m excited what it means for the community because I think you’ll be able to help a lot more people.”

A small amount of the Crossroads budget comes from Tennessee and Virginia but a majority of funds come from local individuals, businesses, organizations and the cities through CDBG funding, Rockett said.