Oklahoma City Indian Clinic

Today, Robyn Sunday-Allen is CEO of the Oklahoma City Indian Clinic. But she began her career at the clinic 29 years ago as a nurse.

The OKC Indian Clinic started in 1974 with a group of Methodist ministers who observed there was no place in the metro area for Native Americans to go for health care.

She still remembers those days, in what she describes as a single, “dilapidated building,” in what's now considered Midtown Oklahoma City. “They were very humble beginnings with just a few volunteer doctors and nurses," says Robyn.

After 20 years, the clinic’s demand for health care became greater than the one building could hold, so they went to several banks in town, looking for an opportunity to expand, but no one would take a chance on them. Until INTRUST Bank.

In October of 1995, INTRUST Bank helped them move into a 27,000-square-foot building in OKC. “We thought we had struck gold,” says Robyn.

Within two or three years, the clinic continued to outgrow the space. “The biggest challenge we have is that the demand for services outpaces our supply,” Robyn notes. “We literally enroll anywhere from 200 to 250 new patients every single month. And that has been steady for the 29 years that I've been here.” INTRUST Bank continued to help the clinic purchase multiple buildings and fund a number of services to meet that demand.

Today, the OKC Indian Clinic provides robust outpatient ambulatory services to 22,000 American Indians from any federally recognized tribe, wherever they reside. They provide medical assistance from birth to end of life, including physical therapy, public health, behavioral health, oncology and hematology, dentistry, eyecare, CT radiology, pharmaceutical care, and more. They even have a resource center – similar to a food pantry – to help serve the large population of American Indians who live in food deserts, where it’s difficult to access fresh produce and healthy foods.

Chris Van Ess onboarded as CFO in 2011. “I have a hard time believing that anyone in the beginning thought it would be anywhere near the size that it is now.”

He recalls that, in 2011, the clinic had a budget of about $14 million. Completing their fiscal year 23, their budget was closer to $80 million. “So, when you look at that level of growth,” says Chris, “and the fact that we're a nonprofit, and we're using all the revenues to put back into services, it makes me feel really good about the job we're doing here, because we know that those results are going to provide additional health care to our Native American patients who are here.”

Both Robyn and Chris credit a lot of their growth to the relationship they have with INTRUST Bank. 

“It makes it very easy when you're doing business with someone that believes in you and understands what you're doing,” says Robin. “They are that vested in us.”

One of the things Chris notes being very helpful for the clinic is the bank’s understanding of and connections within the real estate market. “As we've acquired these buildings with INTRUST,” says Chris, “their knowledge of just being in the market every day is something that we can lean on.”

“It's so much less bureaucratic compared to a lot of the banks that I've worked with in the past,” Chris says. “To be able to send an email or make a phone call and get what you need so quickly is a huge benefit for us.”

The 10-year plan for the OKC Indian Clinic is to have one campus with all services in one accessible location, and INTRUST Bank is going to be with them every step of the way, so Robyn, Chris and the entire OKC Indian Clinic team can continue their mission to provide excellent health care to American Indians.

“My hope for the future is that we can meet the demand of every person that needs us,” says Robyn. “And INTRUST keeps us accountable, because they are our trusted partner.”