Six in ten adults live with a chronic illness; three in ten live with two or more. About one in seven don’t know they have a chronic illness. The most common chronic diseases among US adults include hypertension, high cholesterol, obesity, arthritis, and diabetes, based on recent CDC data.

If the American healthcare system placed preventive medicine at the forefront of its model, people would know their health status, says Larry Freeman, organizer of preventive medicine programs. As the founder of Synergy Saturday, he advocates that if Americans knew their status, many would change their lifestyle and become healthier or seek life-saving treatment.

Freeman is changing the health care system in Little Rock, Arkansas. Every Saturday at the River Market, along the Arkansas River, Synergy Saturday offers free screenings and health navigation services. To make the initiative meaningful, the project’s location is accessible at the centrally located farmer’s market in the heart of the capital city. The market attracts families, visitors, and residents and is easily accessible to the unhoused.

Surrounded by vendors selling skin care products, purses, fragrances, and jewelry in the market’s enclosed tower, Freeman explains. "In our health care system, everything comes down to a billing code. Nothing is truly free. There are co-pays, medication costs, missed-appointment fees, and the visit fee. Especially for people without insurance, it is costly."

After screenings, Synergy Saturday’s navigation services kick in. “We are the first line of defense,” added Freeman.  “We make referrals to free and charitable clinics. We provide assistance with signing up for insurance-- just whatever it takes to guide people to the services they need,” he says.

From financial donors, volunteer health care screeners, and meal servers to patient navigators and baristas, Freeman generally operates with two to 10 volunteers who sign up to help via an app he created. Volunteers include students from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Arkansas State University at Jonesboro, and his alma mater, the University of Central Arkansas.

The McCrory, Arkansas (population 1,600) native started Synergy Saturday after his father passed from sepsis, which developed from a relatively simple cut on his finger. Arkansas is one of the worst states for healthcare overall, usually around 48th to 49th in recent national rankings. In a better health system focused on preventive healthcare, Freeman says his father would have received more attentive, quicker service.

Out of the pain of losing his father, Freeman birthed Synergy Saturday and has delivered more than 25,000 screenings, worth about $2.5 million since March 2015.  The initiative has expanded from a community-powered preventive health pop-up to include a mobile service that reaches some of the neediest in one of the most health-challenged states in America.

Little Rock, AR
Synergy Saturday
River Market
400 President Clinton Ave
8a-2p