Frontier Nursing Health Care Rural Health Clinics (FNH) is located in the Appalachian Mountains of southeastern Kentucky and is a subsidiary of the Frontier Nursing Service. FNH was incorporated in 2003 and includes four rural health care clinics. Beech Fork Clinic and the Dr. Anne Wasson Rural Healthcare Center are located in Leslie County; Community Health Center (CHC) and Kate Ireland Healthcare Center, are located in Clay County.
Family nurse practitioners, and physicians at all of the clinics provide comprehensive primary care services including preventative health services and the management of acute and chronic diseases for individuals of every age. Certified nurse-midwives provide maternity care and women’s healthcare services at the Dr. Anne Wasson Rural Healthcare Center and the Kate Ireland Healthcare Center. Most of the clinics are open from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. Appointments and walk-in patients are welcome.
Both Leslie and Clay counties are designated as medically underserved areas.. Both counties have a high number of individuals below the poverty limit. The leading causes of death for both counties include cancer, chronic lower respiratory disease, unintentional injury, motor vehicle accidents and homicide.
The mission of Frontier Nursing Health Care Rural Health Clinics (FNH) is to provide effective, comprehensive, and affordable primary healthcare to rural families in partnership with the community. This includes maternity care, childbirth, the care of infants, children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly, within the context of the entire family. FNH is committed to advancing the education of health professionals by providing an educational site for clinical practice with primary consideration given to FSMFN students and promoting clinical research.
There were six outpost-nursing centers of the Frontier Nursing Service that
were built during the years of 1927-30. Of those centers, Beech Fork Clinic,
which was the Jessie Preston Draper Nursing Center, is the only clinic that is
still in the original location though not in the same building. Community Health
Center replaced the Clara Ford Nursing Center, Red Bird, and Flat Creek in 1979.
Hyden Clinic opened in 1970 as a part of the Mary Breckinridge Hospital. The
Hyden Clinic was renamed the Dr. Anne Wasson Rural Healthcare Center in 2004.
The Kate Ireland Women’s Center was opened in 1989 and was moved from it’s
original location in Mary Breckinridge Hospital to Manchester, Kentucky in 2003
and was renamed the Kate Ireland Healthcare Center.