All you have to do to become a patient at Friends In Need is to be a friend in need.
— Dr. Wesley Eastridge, Medical Director
• OUR STORY
How It Started
In 1993, community leaders, physicians, and volunteers connected to First Broad Street United Methodist Church were looking at the same problem from different angles. People across the greater Kingsport area were working full time, raising families, and going without basic medical care because they had no insurance and no way to pay. When something finally went wrong, they went to the emergency room — the most expensive door in the health care system, and the one least suited to managing a chronic condition.
Those founders decided the community could do better. Friends In Need Health Center opened its doors in 1995 and saw roughly 500 patient visits in its first year.
Thirty years later, the same door is still open, and the answer at it is still yes.
• WHAT WE ACTUALLY DO •
A Doctor and a Dentist, Down the Hall From Each Other
Very few clinics in this region offer medical and dental care under one roof. At Friends In Need, they are in the same building, four days a week — which means fewer trips, faster hand-offs, and care that treats a person as one whole person instead of two separate problems.
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MEDICAL
Primary and preventive care. Acute and sick visits. Chronic disease management — diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, thyroid. Women’s health. Mental health screening at every visit. On-site point-of-care lab, with routine results back in about fifteen minutes and specialty work sent out from the same blood draw. Telehealth, because a truck that will not start should not cost someone their appointment.
DENTAL
Seven operatories. Cleanings, exams, and x-rays. Fillings and restorative work. Root canals. Extractions. Dentures and partials, many of them printed and milled in our own building. Patients come in covering their mouths with their hands. They leave able to walk into a room and be seen.
• WHAT IT COSTS •
One Flat Fee
Friends In Need does not use a sliding scale. Every patient pays the same flat fee, whether or not they have insurance and whatever their income: [$XX] for a medical appointment, [$XX] for lab work, [$XX] for a blood draw, and [$XX] for a dental visit. You will know what you owe before you sit down.
We ask for proof of household income at enrollment and once a year after that. It is not used to set your fee. It is used to qualify you for grant-funded programs that can cover cancer screenings, specialty referrals, and other care at no cost to you.
And if you cannot pay the fee, you are still welcome. No one is turned away from Friends In Need for inability to pay. Not once since 1995.
• WHO WE SERVE •
Eleven Counties, Two States
Friends In Need serves uninsured and underinsured neighbors with low to moderate incomes across eight counties in Northeast Tennessee and three in Southwest Virginia.
Tennessee
Virginia
Medical care is for patients 18 and older. Dental care is for patients [12] and older. Citizenship and documentation status are not eligibility requirements. Interpretation is available.
Not sure whether you qualify? Call or text (423) 246-0010. We would rather answer the question than have you assume the answer is no.
• OUR IMPACT •
Thirty Years, Counted
7,800
medical and dental appointments last year
995
telehealth visits, for patients who could not make the drive
11
counties served
3,599
dental patients in 2025
$93,000
in name-brand medication placed in patients’ hands in the first half of 2026 alone
0
patients turned away for inability to pay, since 1995
Privacy Comes First
We are committed to protecting the privacy of every patient we serve. Any personal story shared on our website reflects the patient's own experience and is published only with their written consent.
A Patient Story
Every patient who walks through our doors has a unique journey. When patients choose to share their experiences, their stories help others understand the impact that compassionate, accessible healthcare can have on individuals and families throughout our community.
A patient story will be featured here upon receiving written authorization. To protect patient privacy and dignity, Friends In Need only publishes stories with the individual's permission.
This space is reserved for an authentic patient experience.
• OUR PARTNERS •
We Don’t Do This Alone
Ballad Health places a Community Health Navigator inside our clinic, refers patients from its emergency departments, and connects our patients to Project Access specialists. Delta Dental’s Smile 180 Foundation and TennCare Dental make our dental program possible. Dispensary of Hope and Direct Relief keep name-brand medication on our shelves. United Way of Greater Kingsport, the Tennessee Charitable Care Network, Heart to Heart International, and the Health Wagon each carry part of this work with us.
Friends In Need is stronger because of the partners who stand with us.
Where the Money Comes From
Friends In Need operates on roughly [$1.8 million] a year. Most of that is restricted — grants and reimbursements that must be spent on the specific thing they were awarded for. A small share is unrestricted: money given by neighbors, businesses, and congregations that can be spent wherever the need is greatest that week.
That small share is what keeps the lights on when a compressor fails, a grant ends, or a patient walks in who cannot pay anything at all.
See our financials and annual report
• THREE WAYS IN •
There’s a Place for You Here
Become a Patient
If you live in one of our eleven counties and you are uninsured or underinsured, start here. It takes one application & one visit with our staff.
Volunteer
Physicians, dentists, hygienists, and people who are good with a front desk. Volunteer clinicians have been part of this model since 1995.
Give
Every dollar given here becomes care delivered down the hall — a filling, a blood pressure check, a prescription someone could not otherwise fill.
Thirty years. One door. Still open.
1916 Brookside Drive, Kingsport, TN 37660 · Call or text (423) 246-0010 · Monday–Thursday, 8 AM–5 PM