Leveraging Earned Media During the General Assembly to Strengthen Virginia’s Free and Charitable Clinics
Across the commonwealth, there are hundreds of thousands of uninsured and underinsured Virginians. Many of these individuals turn to Virginia’s free and charitable clinics for care, which serve as an important safety net resource for working families who can’t afford healthcare or health insurance.
By delivering important preventative and chronic care, the Virginia Association of Free and Charitable Clinics (VAFCC) helps patients remain healthy, reduce unnecessary visits to the emergency room and avoid missed time from work due to illness. Make no mistake, Virginia’s free and charitable clinics are vital to the health of our communities.
Due to several factors, including inflation driving up living costs and Medicaid unwinding, free clinics have experienced significant increases in operating costs and patient demand.
To alleviate budgetary strain on clinics and ensure continued access to high-quality, integrated care for the commonwealth’s uninsured, Del. Rodney Willett and Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg submitted budget amendments for $4 million in additional funding during the 2025 General Assembly Session.
To help raise awareness of free clinics, advocate for increased funding and influence legislators, the free and charitable clinics team at Hodges was tasked with engaging the media across the state. Our goal was to show the impact of free clinics, and how additional funding would help ensure they have the resources and staff needed to continue to provide essential and holistic care.
Here’s how we approached it:
Leveraging the Data
Hodges worked with VAFCC to develop a news release highlighting the growth in patient demand as well as operating costs:
- According to an analysis of 63 member clinics by VAFCC, patients served at free clinics rose by 19% in 2022 and then again by another 32% in 2023, going from 75,000 patients to 108,270.
- Operating costs also increased, with aggregate annual healthcare costs for services up 11%, jumping from $900 to $1,003 per uninsured patient.
- Patients seeking mental health services rose 41% from 2021 to 2023. Most significantly, the number of uninsured dental patients served by member clinics increased by 46%, resulting in growing waitlists for many clinics.
Hodges targeted reporters covering the General Assembly, statewide news and healthcare with this compelling data and connected them with VAFCC CEO Rufus Phillips who could speak to the impact of free and charitable clinics and why continued support is so crucial. We secured coverage in several outlets across the state including the Virginia Mercury, Radio IQ, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Daily Press and VPM.
Telling Clinic Stories
Data is powerful, but so are the personal stories that pull at our heartstrings and make the issue relatable. In addition to statewide reporters, our team pitched outlets in localities with clinics. This included regions with multiple clinics such as Richmond and Hampton Roads as well as smaller localities like Harrisonburg, Fredericksburg and Woodstock.
We connected these reporters with leaders from their local clinics, who could speak to what they were seeing every day in their clinics – dedicated staff and volunteers who work tirelessly to provide disadvantaged patients with compassionate and holistic care.
A few clinics were even able to identify patients who were comfortable with sharing their stories. Our coverage included NBC12 in Richmond, WHSV in Harrisonburg, Northern Virginia Daily in Woodstock and FXBG Advance in Fredericksburg, among others.
The Results
With many of these stories being picked up by other statewide and national outlets such as Yahoo and Governing, VAFCC’s media coverage resulted in nearly 3.4 million impressions.
While the amendment wasn’t approved for the full $4 million in additional funding, Virginia’s free and charitable clinics were allocated an additional $500,000 a year and will continue to advocate for increases in the future.
Engaging with the media before and during legislative efforts is important because it can help increase public awareness and understanding of an issue, provide third-party validation, influence lawmakers and lay the groundwork for future advocacy.
Photo Credit: VAFCC
Michaela Mishoe
Michaela joined Hodges in 2021 and works on accounts including Virginia's Community Colleges, UMFS, the Virginia Dental Assocation, Virginia's Free and Charitable Clinics and United Way of Greater Richmond & Petersburg. She graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University where she studied Mass Communications with a concentration in Public Relations.
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