CLEVELAND — While looking for ways to use her skills to give back to the community, Erin Elszasz discovered a unique, free health clinic in the Cleveland-area.

"The work is never done in health care and there is still so much time in the day to give back and I think I always wanted to get involved in the community and public health," said Elszasz, a registered nurse in the Cleveland area.

That's when she found the Cleveland Ibn Sina Clinic, a free physical and mental health clinic in Parma.

“They were still kind of in their infancy. It was about a year ago when I came across them and was just really struck by what they do. Their mission. And how many different specialties they have. I think that’s really rare for a free clinic,” Elszasz said.

Elszasz is just one of several medical professionals that volunteer at the Cleveland Ibn Sina Clinic.  

Samantha Salamon, vice president of the Cleveland Ibn Sina Foundation, said it’s a place that brings in different specialists every weekend.

“Some of these sub-specialties we have are dealing with asthma, dealing with behavioral health, dealing with cardiology, immunology. So what we have are physicians who specialize in these areas come in and we schedule them accordingly. So one weekend we will focus on one specialty.”

The services that are provided are free to anyone with no co-pays.

Elszasz said the clinic also has grants to get medications to people at no cost.

“From day one I saw it. Everyone goes the extra mile to make sure everyone has the medications they need. Any referrals that they need, so it is so vitally important, and now more than ever amidst the pandemic where so many people have lost their health insurance."

The clinic also offers free telehealth services so people can receive medical help from the comfort of their homes.