Local doctor expanding clinic and training medical missionaries

A doctor with a dream to provide accessible healthcare to low income communities is expanding his medical mission in Benton Harbor.

Dr. Donald Tynes recently bought the former STD Clinic that was part of the Berrien County Health Department before they moved locations.

Tynes said his new facility is accessible to people in the heart of the city who don’t have access to transportation.

Dr. Tynes is also a reverend and he hopes to use his new office to train medical missionaries who can work abroad as well as in Benton Harbor.

Greg Gilry said, “He doesn’t just treat the issue when you come in and talk about it, he goes back and finds out what starts it."

Gilry is a patient who said he used to be uninsured. During that time, Gilry said Dr. Tynes treated him. 

Gilry said, "That way I can afford my medication. I can afford food at home. I can afford things that if I had to pay the normal price, I’d have to give up something.”

Gilry said Dr. Tynes has become a trusted figure in the Benton Harbor community.

Tynes said, “Back when I was a child I was coming out of the streets of Harlem, I told myself if I was able to make it out, I would try to be a doctor that anybody can see off the streets.”

The Berrien County Administrator sold the former STD clinic to Dr. Tynes for $75,000. 

Dr. Tynes said officials in the community support his vision and he has bigger dreams for improving health care in low-income communities.

Dr. Tynes said, “We’re doing everything here that we’ve been doing and expanding. we have a cardiologist coming in."

The Benton Harbor Health Clinic is now open and Dr. Tynes plans on hiring two specialized doctors to work under him.