Northeast News
April 12, 2017
KANSAS CITY, Missouri – Dr. Elaine Joslyn has officially retired, but that doesn’t mean her patients in the Northeast will be left without adequate medical care.
The Kansas City CARE Clinic will be taking over Joslyn’s private practice on Independence Avenue, NEighborhood Family Care, beginning this week. The KC CARE Clinic is a private, nonprofit organization which is now expanding its footprint back into the Northeast area. The KC CARE Clinic is not new to the Northeast. For years, as the Kansas City Free Health Clinic, it operated a location less than two miles from the NEighborhood Family Care location.
“We do not take this honor lightly,” said KC CARE CEO Sheri Wood. “Dr. Joslyn’s clinic is a true Northeast Neighborhood institution that has faithfully served its residents. We are thrilled to serve the community through this new location. Returning to the Northeast feels like coming home, and we could not be happier.”
The mission of the Kansas City CARE Clinic is to promote health and wellness by providing quality care, access, research, and education to the underserved people in the community. Joslyn herself stated support for the new tenants of her longtime office on Independence Avenue.
“As I considered my plans for retirement, my goal was to find the right partner to assume responsibility for my clinic and my patients,” said Joslyn. “With the Kansas City CARE Clinic, I see an organization with a common vision and dedication to the community.”
Former patients of Joslyn can expect to see new carpet, a new coat of paint on the walls, and new office furniture, but aside from that, there will be more similarities than differences between the two operations. In fact, KC CARE Clinic Vice President of Marketing and Development Doug Day indicated that Dr. Joslyn’s old phone number can still be used to make appointments.
“To my knowledge, all of Dr. Joslyn’s staff has stayed on board. That was really important to us. Dr. Joslyn’s been on that corner for a long time, and has been a stellar part of the community,” said Day. “Northeast patients should expect to see the same quality of care that they’ve always received.”
The KC CARE Clinic has provided a safety net for Kansas City residents for 46 years, and already serves 12,000 patients through its current locations in Midtown at 3515 Broadway and at a Prospect/Meyer office at 2340 E. Meyer Blvd., on Research Medical Center’s campus. Crucially, the Kansas City CARE Clinic is committed to providing high-quality primary care services in the underinsured and uninsured populations. With nearly 250,000 individuals estimated to need access to primary care in the Kansas City metro, the KC CARE Clinic serves as a vital provider of essential medical services in the metro area.
“We take Medicare, we take Medicaid, and we take private insurance as well. We turn away no one for financial reasons,” said Day. “If they have any income at all, we try to get proof of income and proof of residency. There is a sliding scale fee that we charge, but if they can’t do that, then we always work with our patients.”
To celebrate the new office, the Kansas City CARE Clinic will be hosting a Grand Opening with the Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce on Friday, April 28, 2017 at 4:00 p.m.,  at 4601 Independence Ave.
For more information about the clinic, visit www.kccareclinic.org.