SEATTLE – Customers at St. Vincent de Paul’s thrift store on Aurora Avenue now have the opportunity to receive health care and social service referrals, all in one stop.

“I like that we’re meeting people where they’re at, face-to-face,” reflecting Vincentian values, said Maria Moody, a case management supervisor for St. Vincent de Paul of Seattle/King County. “We provide everything from clothing to long-term case management. No one is turned away if they can’t pay,” she added.

The new services are the result of an 18-month remodel of the store at 13555 Aurora Ave. N. that includes a health clinic operated by Neighborcare Health. The store reopened Aug. 14.

The Aurora store serves a “disproportionately needy population” living far from other social service providers, said Ned Delmore, St. Vincent de Paul’s executive director.

Moody and two other case managers are assigned to the store, connecting those in need with social services and benefits. Working Wednesdays and Fridays, each caseworker is responsible for 30–40 cases at a given time; a total of 2,000 cases are expected through the end of the year, Delmore said.

At the health clinic, clients can receive primary care, health assessments and personal health improvement plans, Delmore said. Clinic workers also determine patients’ eligibility for Affordable Care Act benefits and help enroll them in the program.

The clinic collaboration is the result of Delmore contacting Mark Secord, executive director of Neighborcare Health, “with the idea we should be doing things together,” Secord said.

“People appreciate our presence. They appreciate the convenience,” Secord said of the new clinic. “And it’s people who’ve been without medical care for some time.”

Awareness of the clinic is growing, Secord said, although he didn’t have the exact number of patients helped to date.

The Aurora store is the only one where a health clinic is planned, Delmore said. However, the agency wants to include social services, including case managers, at its other stores while expanding case management services to parishes as well.

 St. Vincent de Paul of Seattle/King County also operates thrift stores in Burien, Kenmore, Kent and Renton.