Photo by Tom Jenz
Dr. Stephanie Findley
Dr. Stephanie Findley
The Findley Foundation dba Findley Medical Clinic serves the underserved, including individuals who are uninsured, underinsured and insured. The clinic’s goal is to assist patients in becoming healthy, healed and whole. The nonprofit Findley Foundation is overseen by Dr. Stephanie Findley, the current board vice chair. It is named after her grandfather, George Findley, a sharecropper who worked the land in Portland, Arkansas. He often provided help to his neighbors including shoes and school supplies for the children.
“We assist individuals in need of quality healthcare,” Findley explained. “We provide physical and behavioral health services, case management, vocational training and education. Many of our patients are the working poor, and they deal with rising rents, utility bills, high food prices and the inability to buy a house.”
Astute and accomplished, Findley earned a bachelors from Concordia University. a masters from Cardinal Stritch and a doctorate in behavioral health. Presently, she is taking courses at the University of Pittsburgh to be a physician’s assistant.
She grew up between Milwaukee and Beloit and attended schools in both cities. Her father worked for Gardner Company in South Beloit, Illinois. When she was five, her parents separated, and she moved with her mom and brother to Milwaukee. “We lived in the inner city,” she said, “and I attended Milwaukee Public Schools until I was 12. Then, I returned to Beloit and went to high school at Beloit Memorial but finished high school at James Madison in Milwaukee in 1992.”
When Findley and I met in her office on Capitol Drive in the central city, I found her sitting behind the reception desk. We conducted our conversation right there with an occasional interruption from a patient. She showed a gentle demeanor, speaking softly, the kind of personality patients would trust.
What was your career path? I understand you once owned a construction company. What was that experience like?”
After high school, I had a child and did various jobs in Milwaukee to support myself including three years as a paramedic. Eventually, I became a member of the board of the African American Chamber of Commerce and part of the executive leadership. In 2010, I was doing a lot of back-office support for contractors. One of the other board members had issues with his painting business, and he wanted us to go into business together. In 2011, we started Midwest Construction. We did painting and flooring for commercial construction.
Why and when did you found the Findley Foundation, and what services does it provide?
In 2017, my father was retiring from Safety-Kleen in New Berlin. For 20 years, he had traveled from Beloit to New Berlin.
At his retirement party, I learned how he had implemented some very creative programs for job training. He had never shared these accomplishments with me. Safety-Kleen did not fire employees for testing positive for drugs. Instead, put these employees through their Employee Assistance Program. My dad helped me establish a construction training program that lasted 16 weeks. Ernie G, a local radio personality, helped us recruit 150 applicants, but we could only accept 30 into the program. Ten recruits had been incarcerated for ten or more years, six were homeless, and several had recently lost a parent or caretaker or were suffering from violence trauma.
To get these trainees through the 16-week program, we added supportive services. Therapists and social workers. We made sure we had employers who were willing to hire our trainees after we trained them. Eighteen out of the 30 finished the program and got their certifications in construction and also their OSHA cards. That was in February 2018. The Findley Foundation started with that program.
What is the Findley Foundation Medical Clinic and what services does it provide?
We provide health and behavioral health supportive services. We take a holistic approach. The goal is that every person who walks through our doors will become healthy, healed and whole. The Medical Clinic came about in 2020 when Covid shut down the city, the state and the country. We stepped in to provide support. By December of 2021, we had been approved as a vaccination site. As for our current services, we offer primary care, urgent care, behavioral health, and supportive services. We have a medical director doctor, a director of nursing, and social workers. They are subcontracted.
The Findley Foundation is a nonprofit. How is it funded?
We earn grants, and we accept donations. We are part of the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics and the Wisconsin Association of Free & Charitable Clinics. We accept Medicare and Medicaid insurance. Patients who don’t have insurance come in on a sliding fee scale.
If I am a potential patient, and I have no insurance, low income and little savings, how would you help me?
You would need to show identification and proof of income. And then we figure out your sliding fee rate. If you have no income, you pay the $20 copay for an annual exam. If you have a serious issue like a broken finger, we will repair it. We get a grant from the Department of Health Services that covers the cost of primary care for patients without insurance.
If a woman has a big health issue, pregnancy or lump on the breast, what do you provide?
She would need to have a “well woman checkup.” If she is over 35, we do the wellness exam and refer her outside for the mammogram and cervical cancer screening. The state of Wisconsin picks up those costs.
I’ll read what you once wrote, and you can comment. “Non-medical factors that influence health outcomes are known as Social Determinants of Health (SDH). They are the circumstances under which people are born, grow, work, live and age—as well as the larger set of forces and institutions that shape daily life. At the Findley Medical Clinic, we employ Social Determinants of Health to assess the patient's and their family's needs. Addressing SDH effectively is critical for improving health and eliminating long-standing health inequities as we strive to help individuals become healthy, healed and whole.” So how do you go about helping those individuals through Social Determinants of Health?
We have an intake form that everyone has to complete. It covers a patient’s history, such issues as depression, anxiety, balance, drinking and drug use, spousal abuse, suicide scale, lack of housing, heating, food and even lack of transportation.
If a patient checked a number of those boxes, what is the next step for treatment?
The patient may need a social worker follow up. For instance, if a mom with kids had experienced a house fire, and she has no place to stay or no food resources, then we go into action and provide for their needs—food boxes, vouchers for clothes, transportation, and personal accessories like soap and toothpaste. We often get donations of these basic-needs products.
I found this quote from you: “Addressing the inequities of health care is the most important thing we do.” What do you mean by that, and can you give examples of inequities?
Most healthcare systems see patients for 15 minutes for wellness exams. You cannot address a patient’s needs in 15 minutes. At the Findley Medical Clinic, we spend an hour to 90 minutes with each patient during their wellness exams. Some of the patients, because of literacy issues, think the physical symptoms they experience are normal. For instance, they might think allergy symptoms are normal. If I hear about those symptoms from a patient, I might set up an allergy test.
Another example is many elderly patients complain about low back pain. When we test those elderly patients with back pain, we often find UTI, Urinary Tract Infection. When clients come in for a wellness exam, we do a thorough examination. Complete blood work with metabolic panels. A urinalysis, a lipid panel, and Vitamin D and Iron tests to measure fatigue. Many of our patients have insomnia due to low Vitamin D. For women, we do a pap smear to check for cervical cancer. For men, we screen for prostate issues. We also check for STD’s. We check the thyroid, hemoglobin, and glucose. These are all part of the initial physical exam.
I understand you are an ordained minister who has gone on humanitarian/mercy missions to impoverished regions overseas. Tell me about those experiences.
Last May and June, we crisscrossed Kenya and did medical camps in four different regions. We had a team of doctors and medical professionals. We provided free medical screenings and free medication. The African citizens we treated were most grateful.
You are a member of the Progressive Baptist Church, I believe. I understand you are also a chaplain. Not long ago, I did an article on your minister, Walter Lanier. Do you preach at the church?
I am an ordained minister and a licensed chaplain, but I don’t give sermons. My work is done through community, people in the neighborhoods. Introducing people to God who do not know God.
For more information on the Findley Foundation Medical Clinic, check out their website at findleyfoundation.org.
