The number of people seeking affordable health care has spiked as families struggle to deal with financial belt-tightening in the midst of a national recession.

Waiting rooms packed with new patients have become commonplace at free clinics throughout the region and state, and clinic leaders say they only expect the situation to worsen as recent announcements of layoffs continue to make headlines affecting hundreds of local workers.

Clinics provide health care for those who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little to afford private insurance, and many clinics have seen a 50% increase in the number of patients this year compared with last year.

Statewide, 20,275 new patients were enrolled at Virginia’s 49 free clinics during the first nine months of the year, which is **1/3 of the total number of patients that free clinics saw in all of 2007**.

At the Free Clinic of New River Valley, patient visits were up 25% from August to September and another 26% from September to October

The Rescue Mission of Roanoke has seen a 57% increase in patient visits so far this year.

[Read](http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/186733 “Read the Article”) (Roanoke Times)

The [Bradley Free Clinic](http://www.bradleyfreeclinic.com “Bradley Free Clinic”) provides free medical, dental, and pharmacy care to the Roanoke Valley’s working uninsured.

The [Rescue Mission of Roanoke](http://www.rescuemission.net/core.html “Rescue Mission of Roanoke”) provide food, shelter, clothing, medical and dental services for the homeless.

[Project Access of the Roanoke Valley](http://www.projectaccessroanoke.org/main/index.php?m=1&p=1 “Project Access of the Roanoke Valley”) helps the working poor get free specialty health care.

[Free Clinic of New River Valley](http://www.nrvfreeclinic.org “Free Clinic of New River Valley”) offers medical and dental services to the working poor and has sites in Christiansburg, Radford, Floyd, and Pearisburg.