About BPIC
Bonner Partners in Care provides health care financial assistance to residents of Bonner County and adjacent communities who have no medical insurance and meet the clinic’s eligibility criteria.
The clinic, which opened for patients in July 2003, was the result of dedicated community members with a vision, many benefactors and our most important asset: our volunteers who made our missions possible. The past few years have seen many changes in our lives and in our community. We have navigated an unprecedented situation together and have seen the needs of our community alter in a number of unexpected ways. In our ongoing commitment to remove barriers to health care, we soon realized that some changes were in store for us too. Beginning January 1, 2023, Bonner Partners in Care Clinic will become Bonner Partners in Care – a granting organization for individuals in need of a resource to help pay for medications, lab work, imaging, specialty care and other diagnostic services. If your provider is recommending a test or lab that you cannot afford, they can submit a simple request for funding from BPIC. Our mission remains the same – providing a financial health care safety net for those in our community who are uninsured or underinsured.
Our Vision
All people will have access to basic health care financial assistance regardless of ability to pay.
A healthy community
is a productive community
By providing basic health care financial assistance to the uninsured of Bonner County, BPIC helps improve the overall health, vitality and economic climate of North Idaho. The benefits to the community are both long term and widespread. They include:
- Enhancing the health of children and families
- Reducing the hardships — both physical and financial — suffered by those who avoid treatment until it becomes an emergency
- Alleviating stress points in the health care delivery system (i.e. emergency visits that could have been prevented with proper routine care or visits that could be handled outside the emergency arena)
- Improving the economic climate, as well as solving one of the community’s biggest social challenges
- Helping lower income households remain self-sufficient by assisting them to avoid huge medical bills they cannot afford to pay
- Helping to avoid large health care costs to taxpayers by managing chronic illness before it becomes catastrophic
- Providing caring volunteers with an opportunity to reach out to their community
Board of Directors
President
Bill Litsinger Community Member
Vice President
Erin Binnall BGH Director of Clinic Operations
Treasurer
Sheryl Rickard CEO, Bonner General Hospital
Medical Director
Nichole Grimm FNP, BGH Family Practice
Executive Director
Chryl McCarty
Board Members
Arlene Spinosa LCSW, Mental Health Counselor
Gina Woodruff LP, BGH Family Practice
Peg Tuddenham DO, Retired Pediatrician
Jackie Suarez, Realtor
Erin Bass, NP, Kaniksu Community Health Services
Our Valued Partners in Care
These partners contribute significantly to the operations of the clinic by providing services at little or no charge. These services directly benefit our patients and assist the clinic in keeping costs at a level our patients can afford. Many of the specialists in the community provide consultations for more complex issues at a significantly reduced rate.
Bonner Partners in Care Clinic is supported by the local community and foundation grants. Area organizations such as the Community Assistance League, Board of Realtors, Kiwanis, Wells Fargo, Avista, The Ambrosiani Foundation, Schweitzer Mountain Resort and Ivano’s Restaurant have supported us each year with generous donations.
North Idaho Crisis (208) 625-4884
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