A young mother flips through a stack of bills to pass the time in the waiting room of Bryant Avenue Baptist Church's new free health clinic.
She glares at a bright orange cut-off notice from the electric company for a few minutes, shakes her head and quickly crams the bill into her purse.
Her job doesn't cover her living expenses, but at least she'll have some financial relief with the clinic, she said.
Another woman, Tiffany Trenary, 23, of Oklahoma City, said she's in a similar situation — no insurance to cover her medical costs and a job that barely pays her bills. For about a week she's suffered through a stuffy nose, headaches and watery eyes, she said.
Her mother told her about the clinic.
"It's really my only option,” Trenary said during a recent visit to the clinic. "My son has SoonerCare, but there's no program to help me when I'm sick.”
Bryant Avenue Baptist Church's free clinic is open 6 to 9 p.m. Thursdays in the church's activity building at 4748 Bryant Ave.
Patients are huddled outside the building's wide double doors about 30 minutes before they open, hoping to be one of the first ones in.
The clinic opened in early May and already its waiting room is frequently spilling over with visitors.
Volunteer Estelene Denny said about 11 patients per session are scheduled, but she finds herself trying to fit in as many as 16. She said it's hard to turn away the injured and sick who show up looking for help.
"A man came in with a sheet-metal gash in his leg and no one had the heart to turn him away,” Denny said. "That's what we're here for, but we could easily be overrun with patients if we let it happen.”
The Rev. Bill Sisson, a coordinator for the clinic, said the congregation is targeting the "working poor,” people from the Midwest City-Del City area who earn too much for government assistance and too little to afford health insurance.
He said they hope to expand their services to eventually offer designated clinics for infants and dental and diabetes care.
The clinic is run solely by volunteers with doctors coming from Midwest Regional Medical Center in Midwest City.
Sisson said he hopes the clinic cuts down on emergency room visits for ailments that could be treated in a doctor's office. He said the uninsured and indigent tend to use hospital emergency rooms, because hospitals are required to treat everyone no matter what their financial status.
Jamell Davis, 20, of Midwest City said a painful motorcycle burn on his leg brought him to the clinic. Davis, an aviation mechanic student, said he doesn't have insurance and didn't want to get stuck with a hospital bill he couldn't pay.
"When I'm sick, I ride it out,” Davis said.
The church's former sanctuary doubles as a waiting room. Patients pass the time scanning magazines, talking on their cell phones and reading to their children. Some drop their shoulders and close their eyes, knowing they may have to wait as long as two hours before they see a doctor.
Across the hall, the pace is much faster. Volunteers are going over paperwork, and men and women dressed in scrubs move from one examination room to another, prepping patients to see the doctor.
Four examination rooms are furnished and stocked with all the items a person would expect to see at a doctor's office. The rooms are just big enough for a paper-lined exam table and countertop with jars of cotton balls, tongue depressors and various medical-related items. Handmade curtains cover the entrance.
The clinic's pharmacy shelves are packed with some of the most commonly prescribed medications and medical supplies for patients. No narcotics are kept in the building.
Sisson said all of their medications and supplies are donated and given to the patients at no cost.
Sisson said doctors, physicians' assistants, nurse practitioners and others with health care experience are still needed.
