Aslan Health Preparing St. Cloud's Newest Medical Facility

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) - A new type of community health center is in the works in downtown St. Cloud.

Aslan Health is currently remodeling a building across from the Great River Regional Library to house a new health clinic.

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Officials say Aslan Health Clinic will focus on addressing the specific needs of the working poor, offering services to those with Medicaid, Medicare, and those uninsured or underinsured with a reasonable cash-based fee schedule. What sets the clinic apart is an approach to overcoming the barriers that so many individuals face — the cost of care, inflexible working hours, unreliable transportation, and childcare issues.

The clinic will offer extended and weekend hours and will not take appointments.

Rebecca White is the Medical Director at Aslan Health. She says the clinic will focus on those who have had difficulty finding health care in the past.

The need that we're filling in the community is to bridge the gap for those who don't fit into the standard healthcare system. Most of these members are those that are low income or have schedules that don't allow visits during clinic hours, or cash pay underserved, underserved populations that don't have health insurance, or those that utilize a group pay health insurance and don't quite fit into the standard structure of health care.

In addition to health care, Aslan Health will offer nutrition classes and dentistry and hope to add other services in the future. White says she hopes people come to think of Aslan Health as a small clinic that cares about their patients.

I hope they say that that is a fabulous primary care clinic. I was so welcomed, and they filled in all the things that I didn't understand, they were able to set me up with some classes. They're super awesome people, they give great medical care, and I've never felt so loved as when I went into that clinic.

Clay White is the Executive Director of Aslan Health. He says the clinic will be modeled after a similar operation in Colorado.

(The clinic) only takes Medicare, Medicaid, and then cash pay, but no appointments. So when (the patient) shows up, they can show up. (The clinic’s) wait times are exactly what the standard clinic is - 20 minutes or so. If you don't have reliable transportation, and your car breaks down, or you have to rely on a friend to get a ride, you can't always make your appointment at 9:00. But if it's open, and he can walk in at 9;43, and be seen in 15 to 20 minutes, that just removing one of those barriers.

Aslan is planning to open with both primary care and dental services, with hopes to expand into other areas in the future.

For more information on Aslan Health, find their website by clicking here.

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