Since opening in 2023, EJI Health has provided free health services to hundreds of people across Alabama. Many patients are formerly incarcerated and did not receive any personalized medical care while they were in jail or prison.
The Montgomery Advertiser recognized the impact of the EJI Health Clinic—and EJI’s mobile clinic, which offers care to patients outside Montgomery—in a recent article.
Alabama’s Health Crisis
Hundreds of thousands of people in Alabama do not have health insurance, and access to health care remains a critical problem.
Formerly incarcerated people are particularly vulnerable, and many people coming out of jails and prisons suffer from undiagnosed illnesses that can seriously compromise their health and successful re-entry.
While EJI’s Health Clinic prioritizes care for people who have been incarcerated, it is open to anyone unable to access healthcare in other ways.
“A Lifesaver”
Leonard Pettiway, a 67-year-old Montgomery native who left prison earlier this year, was one of EJI Health’s first patients. He described the care he received while incarcerated as one-size-fits-all, often leaving him without a cure.
“When I was in prison, I got no help. They monitored my sickness for all those years,” Mr. Pettiway said. “This place, it’s a lifesaver. You’ve got to be sorry not to get on your feet after you run into this place.”
EJI’s physicians helped Mr. Pettiway cure his Hepatitis C and provided him with necessary medications to address other health issues.
The mobile clinic has allowed EJI’s health team to reach patients from Huntsville to Mobile. (Mickey Welsh/Montgomery Advertiser)
The EJI Health team is eager to reach more people like Mr. Pettiway, including through services offered out of the EJI mobile clinic, which the team has taken to day reporting centers across the state.
“This is about improving both outcomes for the people coming out of jails and prisons, but also improving public safety and improving public health,” EJI Director Bryan Stevenson said of the project.
“I think we’re going to be able to establish that the people who access these services, the people who get the health treatment that they need, are going to have a much lower recidivism rate than the people who don’t.”
For questions about patient eligibility and appointments, you can call EJI Health at (334)239-9740 or email [email protected].