Nonprofit Clinic Offers Free Healthcare To Oklahomans

Access to healthcare is a right not a privilege, and places like Manos Juntas at 1145 West I-240 Service Road are giving Oklahoman’s access to that right. 

“In 2021 there were over five hundred thousand people that were uninsured, I think that number has jumped roughly to over seven hundred and fifty K.” said Jackson Higginbottom President of Manos Juntas. 

Manos Juntas means joined hands in Spanish, and the clinic is joining hands to help anyone that comes through the doors. 

“There are many people that are underinsured, which means they have insurance, but can’t really use it, because of high co-pays or deductibles,” said Higginbottom.  

Dr. Boyd Shook had two motives in starting the clinic back in 1995, free health care and respectable treatment. 

“Something that’s very different from him and like other doctors that I have shadowed, is he really treats his patients like family,” said OU medical student and volunteer Anuhya Ba.  

Dr. Shook passed away in December of last year, but his legacy lives on through the clinic.  

“They felt safe, and they trusted us with their health, and a big part of that was Dr. Shook,” said Higginbottom.  

The clinic became the training ground for college students entering the medical field.  

“Annually about three hundred college students come through here as volunteers, most of them are pre-med students, some of them are pre-nursing,” said Higginbottom.  

“Being able to come here, interact with patients, see patients over time and see them getting better, has really solidified the foundation that I would like to be a physician,” said UCO pre-med student and volunteer Cade Huston.  

“As pre-med you need to have a certain amount of volunteering hours, shadowing and all of that,” said Ba.  

Upon volunteering she began to understand the real purpose of becoming a doctor. 

“That’s how I came like every Saturday, and I just loved it, so I stayed,” said Ba.  

In addition to the free care, patients also get their prescriptions for free. 

“In 2022 we filled roughly 14 thousand prescriptions,” said Higginbottom.  

Currently the clinic is only open on Saturdays, volunteers will stay and see all the patients that arrive before 11:30 AM. The doors open at 9 am, we usually have a line out the door, wrapped around the building,” said Higginbottom.  

Now the clinic means so much to this community as well as the students that train and volunteer. They are a registered nonprofit, to donate or for more information visit their website www.manosjuntas.org