For 35 years, InterFaith Health Center has kept uninsured workers healthy
By Susan Alexander | Photography by Ethan Smith
Appeared in Cityview Magazine, Vol. 42, Issue 2 (March/April 2026)
Thirty years ago, the Almeida family was struggling. They had moved to the U.S. from Argentina 10 years earlier, but times were hard. The youngest of their five children had asthma. They had no health insurance and not enough money to pay for doctor’s visits for seven people.
Interfaith Health Center saved them, says Eugenia Almeida, the mother of that family. “The director and the staff members were so kind. I’m so thankful for the way the staff treated us. I was there very often. InterFaith was the best thing to happen to our family.”
The Almeidas worked hard and their lives changed. Eugenia now runs A New Hue, dedicated to creating innovative wall textures and finishes at homes and businesses in East Tennessee. When InterFaith purchased and remodeled its new location on Middlebrook Pike, Eugenia’s company applied Ja’decor, a decorative and functional product that combines cotton and silk fibers along with flecks of shiny mica, to a long wall just beyond the waiting area.
“I learned two things from this country: how to receive and how to give. Interfaith was the best thing that happened to us. I was so happy to give back.”
A history of helping
About the time this issue of Cityview is published, InterFaith Health Center will celebrate its 35th year of existence, more than likely with quiet festivities. “We just invited everybody to the ribbon cutting and then the open house of our new building. I don’t know that we’ll do anything big,” says Melissa Knight, longtime executive director.
Their 20,000-square-foot headquarters, which they occupied in November, is the big news this year. It will allow the health center to expand its services to the working uninsured, add more medical staff — both paid and volunteer — and teach more classes on everything from healthy cooking to diabetes management.
The target population for InterFaith’s services is working people with no health insurance. Most are in the service industry, Knight says. “They’re restaurants’ wait staff or a mechanic at a mom-and-pop garage or hotel/motel workers or a construction worker who’s been hired temporarily to finish a project.” Most pay about $25 or $30 for an office visit.
Beth Roskelly, director of development and public relations, says patients have to provide statements of income for themselves or someone in the household, as well as proof of address, and a social security number or tax ID number. Knight says currently the center will serve people who are at or below 250 percent of the federal poverty guideline. What that number is depends on the number of people in the household.
The center had its start in 1989 when Catholic Charities director Mary Leslie Simpson Dotson gathered together community leaders for a discussion about healthcare and the need for better services for the uninsured. With leadership from Knoxville Inner City Churches United for People, a grant of $250,000 was obtained from the state to start up a clinic. It opened its doors on March 6, 1991.
Thirty-five years ago, the range of services they offer today was only a dream. At the time they employed one nurse and a front office person, relying on volunteers to fill in the gaps. Then a dental assistant was hired. Then finally a doctor.
Now, the center employs 35 people offering medical, mental health, and dental care, as well as an onsite dispensary to provide many medications. In addition, more than 40 volunteer medical professionals give their time each week to supplement the work of the paid staff.
Since its beginning, the center has cared for more than 29,000 East Tennesseans from about 33 counties, Knight says, serving more than 3,000 people a year over the course of about 12,000 office visits. Roskelly says the private sector value of their services amounts annually to $1.7 million for medical, $1.5 million for dental, $114,000 for mental health and $2 million for prescription assistance.
Check in with a checkup
Most patients at Interfaith enter the system with a full medical checkup. From there they are referred to a dentist or mental health care provider or specialist for further treatment if necessary.
Dr. Lynn Nichols is the medical director overseeing that care. A pulmonologist who spent 20 years in private practice, Nichols also volunteered his time at InterFaith, finding satisfaction in providing health care to people who had difficulty accessing it.
When he was in private practice, he’d see the same people repeatedly come to the emergency room for health care. “At the hospital, we’d take care of all comers,” he says, “and they’d end up back there again and again. I saw InterFaith doing a good job filling a need.”
At the center, Nichols supervises three nurse practitioners and a host of volunteer doctors and other professionals. “We provide primary care for people age 19 to 64. (Minors in Tennessee receive TennCare and seniors are covered by Medicare.) We see a broad range of medical problems. Our goal is to have more people taken care of and fewer people in debt or bankrupt because they need care.”
“Our goal is to have more people taken care of and fewer people in debt or bankrupt because they need care.” — Dr. Lynn Nichols
In addition to the care provided at InterFaith, close to 100 medical specialists agree to accept their patients for further care at a greatly reduced cost. InterFaith patients can undergo diagnostic testing (such as CAT scans and MRIs), treatment, and even surgery at local hospitals at very affordable rates.
“I’m proud to say that Knoxville’s medical providers and businesses and the community as a whole see the value in what we do and support our clinic,” Nichols says. “We receive no federal funding. We rely on grants and donations to do our work.”
Something to smile about
Once a patient’s general checkup is completed at InterFaith, he or she may be referred to the dentistry portion of the building for further attention. Dr. Danielle Barnes has directed the dental services there since 2021. She came from a corporate dental office and was happy to get back to doing more local and public health-oriented work.
The move to Middlebrook Pike allowed InterFaith to double the number of dental exam rooms and add a second full-time dentist to the rolls. Along with a full-time hygienist and volunteer help, they provide complete dental care, including dentures, partials, crowns, bridges, fillings, cleanings, root canals and, if all else fails, extractions. “We do everything but implants and cosmetic procedures like whitening,” Barnes says.
She estimates they see about 15 patients a day and the hygienist about seven patients a day, five days a week. In addition to working people without insurance, they also treat seniors on Medicare without dental insurance.
Helping people cope
The last big division of the InterFaith Health Center is the mental health department directed by Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Brandon Swaim. Though he is the only therapist on staff, InterFaith also contracts with the Helen Ross McNabb Center to have a nurse practitioner prescribe psychiatric medications when needed.
The center works hard to coordinate appointments across the departments so that a patient can see multiple practitioners in one day. “It can be difficult for them to take time off to take care of themselves,” Swaim says. “Often they don’t have paid time off.”
Swaim sees a range of mental health issues among his patients, primarily depression and anxiety. “We work with a population that’s been through difficult things,” he says. “I’m very proud to be in the position I am, and I’m proud of working for a nonprofit that truly cares, especially as we’re growing.”
Looking ahead
Growth is the goal as InterFaith Health Center looks to the future. Melissa Knight plans to add more staff. And there are 3,000 square feet of the building they’re in that have not been renovated yet.
The day I visited the Center, Knight also got some exciting news that she was still processing. A plot of land beside their building had been donated to the center. When we spoke she was scrambling to make sure it was covered by liability insurance. She had no plans yet as to how to put it to use. “I haven’t even walked it yet,” she says.
She also would like to expand the number of people who know about InterFaith and rely on its services. “We’ve always struggled with how to get the word out,” she says. “We’ve sent home notes through the schools and even advertised on the buses. Most of our patients hear about us through word of mouth or the health care community, including emergency rooms.
“We have wonderful providers, and we do our very best,” she says. “We want to help.”
To learn more about InterFaith Health Center, visit interfaithhealthcenter.org.
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