Southwest Bridge Health focusing on insurance coverage gap in Berrien County

BENTON HARBOR — Low-income people without health insurance have a new place to seek health care in Benton Harbor – and it's called Southwest Bridge Health.

Dr. Lisa Fink said she had a soft opening in June and is holding an open house 4-6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 27, at the clinic at 100 W. Main St., Benton Harbor.

Fink said she worked as a board-certified internal medicine and pediatrics physician for almost 25 years at InterCare Community Health Network in Benton Harbor, with the last 20 years as the chief medical officer.

"I always saw patients there, but I did take on other roles over time," Fink said.

She said she stepped back from that role in February of 2025.

"After a break of time just to rest and recharge, I started learning more about the free clinic world and what that entailed," she said. "If you look hard enough, it's out there, but to put it all together is quite a jigsaw puzzle."

She said her administrative role at InterCare helped her feel comfortable building the free clinic.

Before she opened, she said the nearest free clinic was in Holland or Kalamazoo.

"The intent is to pay for a patient's visit with my expertise as a physician. I also felt strongly that medications needed to be provided free – and labs. We fund that through individual donations, through other health care entity support and grants," she said.

No one at the clinic, including herself, takes a salary.

"The people who work here are volunteers at every level," she said. "... I got myself purposefully into a financial position where I could step back to be able to give back."

She said volunteers don't have to be doctors or nurses.

"I can use nonclinical people. I need help with IT or interpretation because I am not bilingual," she said. "... I've got a handyman. He comes in and helps me hang pictures on the walls. There's always something. Or, there are people good at fundraising or just doing events."

She said she has noticed Baby Boomers are at the age where they may not want to work 40 hours a week anymore, but they may be willing to volunteer for four hours a week.

More information on volunteering or donating, people can go to swbridgehealth.org.

She said her board members were instrumental in getting the building ready.

"It's been a team effort," she said. "I developed my board in December and January and we've been designing and working ever since."

She currently holds clinic hours at three locations. Clinic hours are:

4-6 p.m. on Mondays at The Laundry Hub, 2121 Red Arrow Highway, Benton Harbor.

1-5 p.m. on Tuesdays at Southwest Bridge Health, 100 W. Main St., Benton Harbor.

4-6 p.m. on Thursdays at River of Life Christian School, 671 McAlister St., Benton Harbor.

Fink said an estimated 7 to 8 percent of people in Berrien County – about 12,000 people – fall into the coverage gap of earning too much to qualify for assistance but not enough to afford health insurance. She said that number is expected to grow on Jan. 1 when portions of the One Big Beautiful Bill, which was signed in 2025 by President Donald Trump, go into effect.

"When that goes into play, when people have stricter work requirements and people have to enroll twice a year rather than once a year, that will be hard for many people and they will therefore go off Medicaid and be uninsured," Fink said.

Nationally, she said the number of uninsured people is expected to rise by 5.2 million people.

To be eligible for her clinic, she said people have to not only have no health insurance, but can't make more than 250 percent of the federal poverty level, which ranges from annual incomes of $39,900 for a single person to $82,500 for a family of four to $139,300 for a family of eight.

So far, Fink said she's mostly seen people with diabetes and/or high blood pressure, with many of them running out of their medications because they lost their health insurance.

She said people with emergencies should call 911 because she can't take care of things like heart attacks or bad lacerations.

Fink said specialty care is a challenge because she is a generalist.

"And we cannot afford to subsidize X-rays and MRIs and stress tests – things like that," she said.

She said she wants to help people in Benton Harbor live longer.

"The life expectancy in St. Joe is 86 and in Benton Harbor, it's 67," Fink said. "That's an entire generation – 19 years."

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