New Clinic, Same Care
Healing Hands christens new clinic with semi-annual health fair
David McGee Apr 25, 2026 , Bristol Herald Courier
Zakaia Bell, an ETSU medical student, talks about how helpful the Healing Hands experience is for students' careers.
Medical students and staff work inside the care team area of the new Healing Hands medical clinic Thursday during its semi-annual health fair. Healing Hands will host a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new building on April 30.
Photo: Emily Ball
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Randy Rosenbalm wasn’t initially familiar with Healing Hands Health Center but time off from work Thursday to participate in its semi-annual health fair.
Randy Rosenbalm, of Bristol, Tennessee, talks about his reasoning to coming to see a doctor at Healing Hands while he waits inside a patient room for the free Health Fair on Thursday afternoon.
Photo: Emily Ball
Healing Hands, which provides low-cost medical, dental and vision care to area individuals and families without insurance or with limited insurance coverage, hosts the health fairs as free community events to offer services and raise community awareness.
Seventy-five people received medical care during the two days, with most occurring in the organization's new clinic.
“My girlfriend seen they was having this, and it was free, so I’m taking advantage of the free testing,” he said. “I’m not one to go to the doctor very much.”
His results were good.
“It’s a blessing. I’m 65 years old. I had a chest x-ray and they said my lungs looked good, my heart looks good,” he said.
Just down the hallway, Jimmy Henson of Bristol, Tennessee, was getting his blood pressure checked.
TCAT student Alisha Harrell takes Jimmy Henson's blood pressure during the Healing Hands Health Fair Thursday in their new facility in Bristol, Tennessee.
Photo: Emily Ball
“A friend of mine volunteers here at Healing Hands and he told me about it. I brought my wife today. We have annual checkups and I have bloodwork every six months because I’ve had a heart attack,” Henson said, adding he regularly hikes trails around Steele Creek Park.
This year’s health fair offered a wide variety of testing and services, according to clinic Medical Director Dr. Kelsey Lloyd.
Healing Hands Medical Director Dr. Kelsey Lloyd talks about using their new building for the annual Healing Hands health fair.
Photo: Emily Ball
“We’re offering labs, physical exams, screening exams, we’ve got vision exams, vaccines, we’ve got the mammogram bus from Ballad [Health] one day and Dr. [Joseph] Smiddy doing chest x-rays here today,” Lloyd said. “We’ve been doing this several years now and we’ve always had a really good response from the community."
All available appointments were filled and they accepted walk-ins, she said.
“We’ve also had really good response from fellow community health care providers are here, giving out free stuff,” she said.
The fairs also educate the community about Healing Hands.
“This is advertising for one thing because a lot of people don’t know about us and what we do and the services we offer. It gets our name out there,” Lloyd said. “It’s also to pull in patients we may have missed, that didn’t know we were here or just hadn’t been able to get here another time. You can get a lot of services here today that would normally take a few appointments to get.”
Healing Hands recently wrapped up a $5.5 million capital campaign which included funds to complete renovation of its expansion to a second building adjacent to its Midway Medical Park location.
“It’s amazing. We are so excited to be here. We have so much more space,” Lloyd said. “The flow is much easier; we’re not on top of each other. Because this is a large event we have a lot of medical students, medical assistance students, lab-tech students. There’s just a lot of people here…We have a nice new building that’s all bright and clean and we’re so thankful to all our donors.”
One of those students was Zakaia Bell, a third-year medical student at ETSU Quillen College of Medicine, who called the event a “great opportunity.”
ETSU Medical Student Zakaia Bell talks about her time working the Healing Hands Health Fair.
Photo: Emily Ball
“Over the past two years or so we’ve been doing mainly book work and learning the body. I feel like today was the first day I actually felt like a doctor-in-training. I got to be hands-on, I got to answer questions from patients, get lab work and do things I think will be beneficial to the patient,” Bell said. “This was a good learning experience and a great opportunity for doctors in training.”
Bell, who grew up in Kingsport, was previously unfamiliar with Healing Hands, but has seen first-hand the need for such services.
“I’ve seen they don’t often get the health care that they need. I feel like this is a great opportunity for them, either not having insurance or not being comfortable with doctors normally. That this will give them that opportunity to get health care, get preventative measures and hopefully get on the right track of their health,” Bell said.