Luke Clinic helps expecting mothers to overcome barriers to health care in Flint, Detroit

FLINT, MI — Right after Ilean “Queen” Murrell had finished her free ultrasound and saw the hand of her unborn daughter, Queen’s five-year-old son Camden had an important thought.

“I want to see what’s in my belly.”

He was sitting in on his mother’s ultrasound alongside his two siblings, Kaiden and Justice, in the basement of the Franklin Avenue Mission, where Detroit-based nonprofit The Luke Clinic provides free prenatal care and medical care for infants under 12 months with no questions asked.

The Luke Clinic began as just a free prenatal care clinic, but it has since turned into a full wraparound service clinic that has referral partnerships to resources all over the Flint and Detroit areas.

The faith-based organization that began with a mission to reduce the infant mortality rate in cities in Michigan that are home to some of the largest medical operations in the country.

It quickly became an organization that specializes in erasing boundaries to medical care and other services for expectant mothers and their families through trust.

“My patients in Detroit, they tell me, ‘Miss Penny, you know, Black men are afraid of the police. Black women are afraid of health care providers,’” Executive Director Penny Armbruster said. “… The key to us is relationship-based. That relationship takes time.”

The infant mortality rate in Detroit, where the clinic was founded, made a historic drop from 16.7 deaths per 1,000 births to 11 per 1,000 births in 2019, but the issues that cause a high rate in Detroit compared to the rest of the country are complex.

Armbruster thinks it is a matter of trust. Instead of the patient entering the provider’s culture, the Luke Clinic brings the provider to the patient. They do just that with a mobile operation ambulance in the Detroit area

“The real key is to be able to remove the barriers to care so that we can then have them in (the) clinic regularly,” Armbruster said.

Queen, who was one of the first patients at the Luke Clinic in Detroit, said she likely wouldn’t be here today without the support that the clinic and Armbruster have provided her with.

“It’s a blessing. … I was able to get prenatal care without any costs,” she said.

Queen stays with her children at the Mercy House, a women’s shelter in Flint for young mothers and their children. The Mercy House is another partner of The Luke Clinic and Franklin Avenue Mission.

The 32-year-old is due to have her fourth child in August. Camden, Justice and Kaiden all said they cannot wait to meet their baby sister.

“They threw me my first baby shower and I was able to get all the things that I needed for (Camden),” Queen said. “He got a baby swing, a bed, clothing and gift cards – everything that I had needed or wanted, they provided for me.

“As a mother, it felt very good because I didn’t have that support or that help until the Luke Clinic came around. It was able to support me and give me the things that I needed.”

Armbruster and the Luke Clinic even worked to reunite Queen’s children in Flint as a family. They were each staying in different locations in the Detroit area.

“They did this,” Queen said while looking at her children in the activity room. “They provided a place for me to be at the Mercy House and then I was able to get Kaiden and Justice and bring them all here with me too. Miss Penny made all that happen. … I was away from them for a while until they were able to reunite us.”

Flint’s location services less than its Detroit location, as it has only been in operation since Fall 2021.

The clinic has been slowly working to get the word out about its services that can save lives, empower women and build faith.

Armbruster works from the perspective of “I am going to partner with whoever has the same heart as me.”

She calls the Luke Clinic a social ministry, not evangelical. Some Luke Clinic patients have gotten abortions and the Luke Clinic will treat the patients before and after just the same, Armbruster said.

The Luke Clinic uses same state-of-the-art equipment that hospitals use. They receive donations or are able to purchase equipment for a large discount through their partner, the University of Michigan Family Medicine group, which assists the operation in multiple ways.

Sitting in the basement of the Franklin Avenue Mission, located at 2210 N. Franklin Ave., the clinic has a children’s activity room, social work support, free meals, clothes, insurance navigators and transportation resources.

For more information, the Luke Clinic can be contacted at 866-458-5352.

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