CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Back in 2022, NewsChannel 5 told you about a group of medical providers that kept working at their clinic, even though their paychecks stopped coming.
"It wasn’t us, we did everything we could, we’re still trying honestly, we still are," said Robert Crouch, a physician's assistant back in 2022.
He and a few others worked for Advanced Care Medical in Clarksville at the time. Over the course of several months, their relationship with their parent company went from bad to worse than they could have imagined.
I talk to the group of medical providers in the player above.
"They were far away, communication wasn’t there," said Lavian Nguyen, a nurse practitioner.
"We would come in sometimes. There would be no lights. We would come in sometimes, and they wouldn’t have paid the water bill and we still managed to see patients through all that. And we were able to maintain and do all that, without a paycheck," said Kristen Dortch-Farmer, a physician assistant.
Still, they kept coming to work every day, without pay, for months.
"We kept coming back because of the patients," said Nguyen.
"The care was needed in town and so we just continued to take care of our people," said Dortch-Farmer.
Finally, it was their medical record database going away that forced them to lock up Advanced Care Medical for good.
"That kind of tied our hands where we couldn’t keep records anymore, therefore we had to stop seeing patients," said Dortch-Farmer.
That's when Crouch, Dortch-Farmer and Nguyen came up with their boldest plan yet.
"Why don’t you guys just go out on your own?" said Crouch.
"So we decided, if anybody can do it, why not us? So we did," said Dortch-Farmer.
Thanks to local investors, they founded their own clinic — Health Star Medical Group on Fire Station Road in Clarksville. The clinic officially opened up in March. Now the challenge will be to keep the clinic open.
"It’s super tough starting out," said Crouch.
"Payroll, staff, electronic medical records, equipment, supplies, so many," explained Dortch-Farme.
Now, this staff that made sacrifices to take care of their patients, need some patients to take care of their staff.
"We definitely need some love. We have love to give but we need love back," said Crouch.
In Crouch's new exam room, the walls are covered with Captain America memorabilia. That may be fitting, because the challenge before this group feels almost super hero in nature. But it's a challenge all three are eager to take on.
"When the world’s pushing at you and you know you’re right, push back," he said.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
