To commemorate its 18th anniversary, the Lake Norman Community Health Clinic has launched a “98 Donors, $98” capital campaign, with a goal of raising $9,600 by Sept. 4.

The LNCHC, located on Hunters Road in Huntersville, is the oldest and largest medical provider serving the uninsured in North Mecklenburg and South Iredell counties.

For more information, contact Lynn McRae at 704‐316‐6611 or email at lmcrae@lnchc.org.

Its mission is critical, as patients who don’t qualify for Affordable Care Act subsidies or Medicaid comprise an estimated about 13 percent of the Lake Norman community. Patients are asked to donate $15 to offset expenses, but are never turned away if they can’t pay.

The clinic was founded by Dr. David Cook of Lakeside Family Physicians in Cornelius. He recognized a need in the community for individuals without health insurance to have access to appropriate and affordable medical care. Cook began seeing four to five uninsured patients on Wednesday nights in the back of a grocery store. Within a year, he was seeing 20‐30 patients on these evenings.

In the basement of the First Baptist Church of Huntersville, Davidson United Methodist Church, St. Mark Catholic Church, and Meadowlake Presbyterian Church, partnered to support a free clinic.

On the opening night of Sept. 4, 2001, over 100 patients came.

The clinic is open five days a week with an evening clinic on Wednesdays. LNCHC focuses on prevention and treatment of disease and managing healthy outcomes for approximately 1,500 patients a year,, leveraging partnerships with Novant Health, Carolinas Healthcare System and local physicians to provide continuity of care.