A Heartfelt Farwell to Gayle and Rob Bosscher, Volunteers Extraordinaire

Since May 2019, Gayle and Rob Bosscher have been integral members of Grace Medical Home’s volunteer family. Gayle first joined us as a devotion volunteer, but her heart for service soon led her to take on additional roles in Patient Registration and Care Coordination. When Michelle Cash, pediatric nurse practitioner, learned of a young patient who needed help with reading, she knew exactly who to turn to. With 29 years of experience as an educator, Gayle was the perfect fit. Ever since, Gayle happily tutored that patient and many others over the years, often rearranging her own schedule to stay late and make a difference in her life.

Inspired by Gayle's dedication, Rob began volunteering in September 2021. Together, this dynamic duo has given more than 2,576 hours of their time—a contribution equal to one full-time staff member for over a year! Their loyalty and service have touched the lives of countless patients and staff.

It is with heavy hearts that we bid farewell to the Bosschers as they move out of the area. Gayle and Rob, your dedication, warmth, and love for serving others will be missed more than words can say. Gayle, we know that even from afar, you can still lead a devotion via Zoom! We are certain that God has great plans for both of you as you continue to bless others. We will miss you dearly.

Strengthening Community Health Thanks to the Winter Park Health Foundation

Grace Medical Home has been selected as one of only five nonprofits to receive the prestigious Well Together Grant Awards Challenge by the Winter Park Health Foundation (WPHF)! this initiative is part of WPHF’s unwavering commitment to enhancing the health and wellbeing f our community in Eatonville, Maitland, and Winter Park, marking a special celebration of their 30th anniversary.

With this significant award, Grace Medical Home will join forces with the Central Florida Black Nurses Association to address critical health disparities that exist in these communities. Our collaborative efforts will focus on diabetes prevention and heart health improvement through comprehensive community outreach, education, and screenings at our Mobile Medical Unit in the Eatonville area.

Together, we are committed to making a positive impact on the health of our community, ensuring a brighter, healthier future for all. stay turned for more updates on this exciting journey!

Cancer Free! Nayeli's Story of Grace

At 16 years old, Nayeli Diaz was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer. Nayeli went from being a normal teenager who enjoyed activities with her friends to a teenager with metastatic cancer, embarrassed to step outside with a colostomy bag. After some difficult months of fighting off the metastatic cancer with treatment and trips in and out of the children’s hospital, an obstruction sent her to the emergency room and resulted in the removal of the largest and only tumor left in her body.

Many uninsured in Orange County call this medical center ‘home’

Grace Medical Home has provided first class medical care for uninsured since 2010.

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – The lobby and waiting room at Grace Medical Home is clean, nicely appointed and well-lit. In many ways, an unremarkable setting for a modern doctor’s office.

Dr. Kirsten Carter, internal medicine specialist, said that’s the point.

“We were very intentional in wanting not only a medical place of perfection and excellence, but we wanted it to be beautiful. Most of our patients have not had an opportunity to feel valued, to feel special to feel embraced,” Carter said.

The full service medical center near Colonial Drive and Mills Avenue has been serving Orange County’s uninsured residents for nearly 15 years.

“We know that there are people out there who deserve the best, who just, for whatever circumstances, can’t or don’t have access to health care, it doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t have it. So our goal was to provide a space to fill that hole,” Carter said.

Annette Opio is a patient at Grace Medical Home in Orlando. (WKMG-TV)

Annette Opio has relied on Grace Medical Home for several years. She has some chronic conditions and is able to get regular care from a variety of specialists within the practice.

“I get my labs done. And then I come and talk to my wonderful doctor, she tells me if I’m doing good, or if I’m getting scolded,” Opio said with a laugh.

Opio is unable to work but even when she was employed she couldn’t afford health insurance.

“I worked for many years and couldn’t afford the insurance in my own job because I had to pay other bills.” Opio said. “So a lot of people go without seeing a doctor because they can’t afford insurance.”

And those are the people Grace Medical Home is designed to help, the working poor.

“When you’re trying to choose between getting health care, and putting food on the table or paying your rent, you know, those basic needs have to be met first. And so your illness will go down on the list.” Carter said. “So you ignore things, you definitely don’t get prevention. Unfortunately, you become more and more sick, which makes you less productive. And it’s just a downward spiral.”

According to Grace Medical Home, more than 185,000 people in Orange County are uninsured and have no access to ongoing care due to insurance status and cost barriers.

Many patients work more than one part-time job. Construction work tops the list of patient occupations.

Stephanie Garris, CEO of Grace Medical Home, said most patients need care for chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and asthma.

“Our patients if they’ve sought care before, it may be episodic, maybe at a minute clinic or something like that, or the emergency room certainly. But what they really don’t have access to is that cardiologist that endocrinologist all the components that are needed with chronic disease management.” Garris said. “So that’s really what we do here. And we have all of those specialties.”

Grace Medical Home provides primary care for adults and children including well and sick visits, check-ups and care for chronic illnesses. More than 35 medical specialties, such as cardiology, dermatology and orthopedics are provided on-site.

The center relies on more than 400 physician volunteers.

Since its inception in 2010, Grace has served more than 5,000 patients and reduced patients’ ER visits totaling more than $2.4 million since 2015.

Grace Medical Home in Orlando. (WKMG-TV)

In 2010, local physicians participated in a medical mission trip to the Dominican Republic. The mission was to help the Dominicans turn a children’s sick clinic into a comprehensive medical home where, in addition to acute sick visits, there are well care check-ups, health education and adequate medical records.

“Returning home, they saw the same need to provide high quality and continuous healthcare to the underserved right here. So when they saw the clinic doing so successful down there, where they didn’t have many resources, they said we could probably do something like here in the U.S. And here we are,” Carter remembered. “And so it’s just amazing how it just takes one spark to ignite a big flame. All you need is a spark.”

“We were very intentional in calling ourselves Grace Medical Home,” Garris said. “Because that’s precisely what the low income uninsured struggle to find because of insurance barriers or cost barriers. And really all that means is that the patient’s in the center of their care, they come here as much as they need to. They get the secondary care, the procedures, the screenings, the cancer screenings and preventive care services that they just simply don’t have access to.”

Grace Medical Home is not currently accepting new patients but updates their website each month.

To be a patient at Grace, you must:

  • ⋅ Live in Orange County for at least the past three months

  • Be uninsured, not enrolled in and don’t qualify for any government-assisted healthcare programs (such as Medicaid, Medicare, VA Benefits, etc.)

  • Be between the ages of birth and 64

  • The monthly gross income of your family must be equal to or less than 200% of the federal poverty level.

They do not accept walk in applications.

Welcome Dr. Bijan, Volunteer Co-Director of Grace's Dental Center

Dr. Bijan Hakimian is no stranger to volunteering at Grace Medical Home. In fact, his arrival at Grace Medical Home is more of a homecoming.

While receiving his undergraduate degree at the University of Central Florida, Dr. Bijan was an active member of UCF Pre-Dental Student Association (PDSA) and served on the Executive Board as Secretary for the club. As a Pre-Dental Student, he volunteered at Harvest Time International and AdventHealth where Michelle Lawton, Grace’s Director of Dental Center Operations, helped create their dental programs. He kept in touch with Michelle , while attending dental school. When he returned to Orlando as a licensed provider, it was only natural that he came to Grace as a volunteer provider.

On Improving Mental Health, Clinic Staff Have Wisdom to Share 

People who most need access to mental health care don’t always know where to find it. Or speak the same language as an available therapist. Or have a reliable ride to a counseling session. 

To overcome these and other barriers, safety net providers across the U.S. are thinking outside the box. In some cases, they’re thinking outside the physical walls entirely. During a recent event at Direct Relief headquarters, several of these innovative clinics, each funded by Teva, had an opportunity to share insights and learn from one another. 

The Healing Brush: Empowering Pediatric Patients Through Art

At Grace Medical Home, we understand the profound impact mental health has on overall well-being. Our mission is to continuously support and empower our patients, especially the youngest ones, through innovative and compassionate care. Among our various initiatives, we are particularly proud of our art classes designed to nurture creativity, self-expression, and emotional resilience in our pediatric patients.

In June, we held a series of enriching art classes aimed at fostering emotional awareness and coping skills. These sessions provided a safe and encouraging space for children to explore their feelings and express themselves through different artistic techniques.

From Anxious to Confident

Annette Opio has battled courageously with anxiety and depression for years. After moving across the country to Florida as a single mom, she faced increasing adversity. Annette sought out medical intervention but was told that there was nothing wrong with her. In between working and taking care of her family at home, the anguish worsened. Annette continued to seek help at a community clinic, but she was unable to get answers, nor did she feel cared for.

At an employee meeting at Annette’s job, she learned about the services provided by Grace Medical Home. She was so encouraged to hear how Grace specifically helps those in need of medical assistance and have financial and social barriers, making it difficult to receive quality care. Annette took home a Grace information pamphlet and eagerly called on her day off. On Grace’s registration day, Annette was welcomed with smiles and a warm embrace in the hospitable atmosphere.

Thank you, Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation and AdventHealth, for your Epic gift!

We are excited to share an amazing update and extend our sincere gratitude to AdventHealth and the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation for their outstanding generosity.

Through their Community Connect partnership, AdventHealth has provided Grace Medical Home access to Epic under their umbrella. Moreover, the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation's generous financial gift has paid for the one-time fee to customize the state-of-the-art Epic electronic medical record software for our organization. This significant advancement places us at the forefront of patient care, and we are truly grateful for their support.

Help Celebrate Grace Medical Home's 14th Birthday

Each year, as we blow out the candles on another milestone, we reflect on the lives touched and stories of resilience that define our mission. Your generosity has empowered us to offer comprehensive care to individuals like Lorenza Rodriguez. Lorenza's two-decade journey with trigeminal neuralgia was fraught with shock-like, agonizing pain in the cheeks, jaw, lips, and nose. Talking, eating, or even the slightest breeze triggered excruciating pain for Lorenza

Pain Free at Last!

Lorenza Rodriguez had suffered with trigeminal neuralgia for over 20 years. Trigeminal Neuralgia is a severely painful condition of the facial nerve which spreads across the cheeks, jaw, lips, and nose. It causes electrical shock type of pain with talking, eating, or brushing your teeth; even the wind or AC blowing on your face is painful. It can be so bad that there are reported suicides due to this excruciatingly painful condition.

Inside Grace There's Always Care

Inside the walls of Grace Medical Home, it’s a given that you will always get top-notch medical care by some of the best providers in the area. This means they will address all your health needs thoroughly—from reviewing your medical history, explaining lab results in depth, setting up specialist appointments, and even scheduling in-house mental health counseling. But that’s only ONE kind of care you’ll find at Grace.

Honoring Volunteers & Partners by Celebrating Milestones

Restoring our patients’ health and hope is a daunting task. One that we don’t take lightly and one that we can’t undertake by ourselves. We couldn’t do what we do without our valued volunteers and community partners. We recently honored these special friends at an Open House that also hosted two milestone ribbon cuttings for Grace Wellness Home and our Mobile Medical Unit.