Our Services
Medical Care:
Thundermist provides primary health care to people of all ages, from birth to elderly at its primary care facilities in Woonsocket, South Kingstown and West Warwick. Outside of our health centers, we provide care at:
- A school based health center in West Warwick
- A fitness program at Woonsocket High School
- Various homeless shelters and soup kitchens throughout Woonsocket.
Thundermist employs health care providers in the following specialty areas: Family Medicine, Pediatrics, Obstetrics/Gynecology and Internal Medicine and Geriatric care. The Thundermist Medical team is staffed by caring and skilled physicians and nurses dedicated to providing the finest care to our patients. We offer a sliding fee scale to our patients who are uninsured. Thundermist also offers programs in:
Preventive Health Services:
Thundermist participates in a wide range of preventive health programs sponsored by RI Department of Health. These programs include immunization programs, STD screening, HIV testing, lead screening, diabetes control, Title X family planning, adolescent and school-based health care initiatives, and tobacco cessation.
HIV Care:
Thundermist runs one of Rhode Island’s two Ryan White Title III Early Intervention Services programs for comprehensive care to HIV positive patients, including disease specialty care through its affiliation with Brown University, comprehensive primary care, clinical trials, mental health counseling, dental services and case management.
School-Based and Adolescent Care:
Thundermist runs three school-based health centers in Woonsocket and has been providing school-based health services for over ten years. Two years ago we opened a school-based health center at the West Warwick Middle School/High School serving students from those two schools.
The school-based health centers offer prevention programs specifically geared to adolescents, including obesity management, nutritional education, family planning and STD screening, behavioral health counseling, dental screening, preventive and episodic care.
Obstetrical Care:
Thundermist delivers over 300 babies each year in Woonsocket. Our strong prenatal programs offer hope to low-income women and adolescents who turn to Thundermist to make sure their babies are born healthy and strong.
Enabling Services, Case Management and Care Coordination:
Thundermist prides itself on having one of the strongest social service case management programs in community health in the nation. All Thundermist sites are staffed with trained and educated social workers who provide case management and counseling to all referred medical and dental patients.
Laboratory Services:
Thundermist provides all CLIA waived diagnostic tests on-site, including pregnancy testing, oral HIV testing, rapid in-office assays, glucose screening, urinalysis and microscopic specimen analysis. All other diagnostic laboratory services are provided through contractual arrangement with Lifespan Labs.
Dental Care:
Thundermist offers dental care at all three sites, as well as in the community through our Community Dental Program. Dentists and hygienists provide a full range of comprehensive dental services to both children and adults. As with our medical care, no one is denied services; uninsured patients are charged on a sliding fee scale. We also operate two programs out of our dental department:
Community Dental Program:
The Community Dental Program uses portable dental equipment and offers services in oral examinations, preventative, hygienic and restorative services and classroom-based oral health education. A dentist and hygienist go to schools, Head Start classrooms, and after-school programs to screen children and then refer them for treatment to the Molar Express or their dental home.
The Molar Express:
Dental services are now being brought to children through a new venture named, The Molar Express, presented by Ronald McDonald House Charities. The Molar Express is a 40-foot long, specially designed dental office on wheels which travels to 20 RI communities. The program targets 15,000 children aged 2-18, many of whom are living in poverty or have no dental insurance through our Community Dental Program. We partnered with two other highly experienced RI health and human service providers (Comprehensive Community Action Program and East Bay Community Action Program) along with Ronald McDonald House Charities of Eastern New England to bring full dental services tailored for the communities the Molar Express visits.
Behavioral Health Services:
Thundermist was the first federally funded community health center in Rhode Island to offer mental health services onsite in its health centers as part of a comprehensive primary care program. Behavioral health clinical services are available to all currently-active Thundermist patients. Patients undergo an initial screening and assessment by a Master’s level clinician; based on the assessment findings, the clinician will make all appropriate treatment and referral recommendations. These may include:
- Further Assessment
- In-House Group and/or Individual Counseling Services
- In-House Medication Management Services
- Referral to the most appropriate Community-Based Treatment Provider
All services are available to uninsured, low-income patients on a sliding fee scale.
Quality Counts at Thundermist and we strive to provide you with the very best care. You are encouraged to speak with the staff about your care needs. If concerns are not resolved, please speak with the Site Director.
“There is lot of talk about community-oriented primary care. At Thundermist, we focus on the complex needs of our patients and our communities and provide a comprehensive array of services to meet those needs.”