Ellwood City clinic provides no-cost medical services through military training mission

If you’ve been putting off your next dental exam or annual physical, an Ellwood City clinic could get you up-to-date — at no cost. 

More than 200 U.S. troops have taken over the halls of Lincoln High School for Operation Healthy Ellwood, a training mission with benefits for both the military and the community. The clinic will be open July 23-26 and July 28-August 1, from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. each day.

The clinic provides a wide range of services, including dental examinations and fillings, annual and school/sports physicals, behavioral health consultations and veterinary exams for household pets. Patients can even pick up a limited number of prescriptions at the on-site pharmacy, or get brand-new eyeglasses made on the same day of their exam. 

All this comes with no cost and no requirements for residency, insurance or even identification. 

“We just want to come into the community and provide no-cost healthcare to everybody,” said Lieutenant Commander Jacob Corlew, Healthy Ellwood’s director of operations. “We don't need to know even your name, really. … Just, if you have a need, come out and we'll take care of you.”

The U.S. Air Force, Army and Navy are putting on the clinic as part of their Innovative Readiness Training (IRT) program, which gives military medical personnel hands-on training experience. Healthy and sick patients are welcome — but according to Corlew, those experiencing medical emergencies should go to the hospital.

The training mission has been two years in the making, thanks to the efforts of one Ellwood native. Air Force Colonel Nicole Hurley fought to bring the IRT program to her hometown after the closing of Ellwood City Medical Center.

“I saw the impact that the hospital closing has had on the community,” Hurley said. “My parents and grandmother, who live 0.3 miles away from the hospital, now have to go 27 miles to get treatment.”

“Any opportunity that I can get to bring in some needed medical care to the community, I felt it was valuable,” she added.

Seeing Operation Healthy Ellwood come together Tuesday, ahead of its official opening Wednesday, brought up strong emotions for Hurley. 

“I’ve been crying happy tears the whole time,” Hurley said. “It really has been like a dream come true.”