Do I Qualify for Free Health Testing in Wichita? A Complete Eligibility Guide
The answer, for a large number of Wichita-area residents, is yes. And the testing is completely free through December 31, 2026.
Jun 24, 2026
You may have spent years in northeast Wichita without ever hearing the words trichloroethylene or TCE. You may have grown up playing outside in the Millair neighborhood. You may have worked a job near 29th and Grove for a decade. You may have rented an apartment in the area, raised kids there, or sent your children to school there. And somewhere along the way, life moved on.
Now you’re hearing about groundwater contamination. About chemicals in the soil. About free health testing. And the question sitting in the back of your mind is simple: Does this apply to me?
The answer, for a large number of Wichita-area residents, is yes. And the testing is completely free.
What Is Clearway Testing?
Clearway Testing is the official community health initiative connecting Wichita and Sedgwick County residents to free health screenings related to groundwater contamination. It is the authoritative source for eligibility information, testing locations, and guidance on next steps.
Clearway was formed through a coordinated effort involving the State of Kansas, the City of Wichita, Sedgwick County, and the Kansas Health Foundation, which serves as the program administrator. A total of $3.5 million in grant funding was secured through a partnership of government agencies, private sector partners, and philanthropic organizations to make this testing possible.
The initiative brings together a network of trusted community health organizations, including GraceMed Health Clinic, HealthCore Clinic, Hunter Health, Love Clinic and Med Spa, and the Wichita Black Nurses Association. These are clinics and organizations that already serve this community every day.
Key Facts About Clearway Testing:
- Free health testing is available through December 31, 2026
- No insurance required
- Testing is available at multiple clinic locations across Wichita and Sedgwick County
- At-home testing is available for homebound residents
- A nurse or health professional calls you personally to explain your results
You can find a testing partner near you on this website.
The Core Eligibility Question: Could You Have Been Exposed?
The contamination at the center of this testing program involves two industrial chemicals, trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE), that moved through the soil and into the groundwater beneath northeast Wichita over decades.
What Is TCE?
Trichloroethylene (TCE) is a man-made industrial solvent once widely used for cleaning and degreasing metal parts. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) both classify TCE as a known human carcinogen. TCE was identified in the groundwater beneath northeast Wichita, originating from the Union Pacific railyard near 29th and Grove. The contamination plume runs 2.9 miles south through residential and commercial areas, from the railyard near K-96 highway and I-135 all the way south to Murdock Avenue.
Health effects linked to TCE exposure include:
- Kidney cancer (the most strongly documented link)
- Liver cancer
- Non-Hodgkin lymphoma
- Immune system effects
- Neurological effects including dizziness, headache, and memory issues
- Reproductive effects and developmental risks during pregnancy
What Is PCE?
Perchloroethylene (PCE) is a chlorinated solvent primarily used in dry cleaning operations. In addition to the TCE contamination from the railyard, six former dry cleaning sites within or near the 29th and Grove study area also contributed PCE contamination to local groundwater. PCE carries many of the same health risks as TCE, including links to certain cancers and neurological effects.
The critical point: Both TCE and PCE can remain in groundwater for decades. Health effects tied to chemical exposure often take years or even decades to appear after the original exposure occurred. This long latency period is precisely why free health testing exists right now, for people whose exposure may have happened 20, 30, or 40 years ago.
Complete Eligibility Guide: Who Qualifies for Free Health Testing in Wichita?
Eligibility for Clearway Testing is intentionally broad. It was designed that way because exposure to TCE and PCE in northeast Wichita affected more than just people who lived directly on the streets closest to the railyard. The contamination plume is 2.9 miles long. It passes beneath neighborhoods, schools, businesses, and roads that tens of thousands of people have lived and worked near over the past five decades.
You Qualify If You Lived in the Affected Area
You do not have to currently live in northeast Wichita to qualify. If you lived in the area at any point in the past, whether for a year or for three decades, you are eligible for free health testing.
This includes people who:
- Grew up in the Millair neighborhood or Atwater area
- Rented a home or apartment anywhere in the contamination zone
- Owned property in northeast Wichita between I-135 and Grove, from K-96 south to Murdock Avenue
- Lived in ZIP codes 67214 or 67219 at any point in their lives
- Have since moved away from Wichita entirely
You do not need to provide documentation of your past address. You do not need to prove how long you lived there. If you believe you may have been exposed based on your residential history, you qualify.
You Qualify If You Worked in the Area
Workplace exposure to TCE and PCE is a legitimate and documented pathway. TCE vapors from contaminated groundwater can travel upward through the soil and enter commercial and industrial buildings through a process called vapor intrusion, passing through foundation cracks, pipe penetrations, and floor drains and accumulating in indoor air.
Workers who may qualify include:
- People who worked at businesses, warehouses, or facilities in or near the contamination zone
- School employees and staff who worked at schools in the affected area
- Construction and trades workers who spent time on job sites in the area
- Healthcare and social service workers based in northeast Wichita
- Anyone who spent regular work hours in buildings within the contamination plume
You do not need to have worked at or near the railyard. Any regular presence in buildings within the affected area counts.
You Qualify If You Attended School or Childcare in the Area
Children who went to school or attended daycare in northeast Wichita during the years when contamination was present in the groundwater may have been exposed through vapor intrusion in school buildings or through other environmental pathways. Both current and former students are eligible for testing.
You Qualify Even If You Feel Completely Healthy
This is important enough to say directly: the absence of symptoms does not mean the absence of risk.
TCE and PCE are chemicals whose most serious health effects, including kidney cancer, liver cancer, and lymphoma, develop silently over years or decades. A KDHE health study finalized in April 2023 found elevated rates of liver cancer in the 29th and Grove study area. Early-stage organ damage and early-stage cancer frequently produce no noticeable symptoms at all.
Getting tested when you feel fine gives you the best chance to catch any developing issue at the point when treatment is most effective.
You Qualify If You Are a Child or a Parent Seeking Testing for Your Child
Children are eligible for free health testing through Clearway. If your child currently lives in or has previously lived in the affected area, or attended school or childcare there, they can receive testing through a Clearway partner clinic.
A Common Question: I Moved Away Years Ago. Does My Old Address Still Matter?
Yes. The chemicals in Wichita’s groundwater do not disappear when you leave. If you were exposed to TCE or PCE through groundwater, indoor air, or drinking water in northeast Wichita, that exposure is part of your health history. The fact that you moved to another city or another state does not erase the biological reality of what your body may have processed during the years you lived there.
Clearway Testing was specifically designed to reach people across this entire spectrum of exposure history. For example: A person who lived near 29th and Grove in 1980 and moved away in 1995 has just as valid a reason to get tested as someone who moved into the neighborhood last year.
If you grew up in this part of Wichita, reach out to a Clearway Testing partner. The testing is free, it is fast, and it can give you information that matters for your health and your family’s health for years to come.
What the Free Testing Actually Involves
Getting tested by a Clearway Testing partner is quick and easy. A licensed medical professional will draw two small vials of blood and you will provide a urine sample in a private bathroom using a collection cup. That’s it.
Your blood and urine samples will then be used in the following tests:
| Test | What It Checks |
|---|---|
| Blood test (Complete Blood Count) | Overall blood health, anemia, immune function |
| Comprehensive Metabolic Panel | Liver function, kidney function, blood sugar, electrolytes |
| Urinalysis | Kidney health, early signs of organ stress |
| Basic medical checkup | General health assessment (varies by location) |
| Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) test | Liver health screening (at select locations) |
| Abdominal ultrasound | Organ imaging (at select locations for qualifying patients) |
These tests do not look for TCE or PCE directly in your body. They evaluate how your organs are functioning and check for health effects that may be linked to past chemical exposure.
After your testing appointment, a nurse or health professional from the Clearway program will call you personally to explain your results, answer your questions, and guide you toward any follow-up care you may need. If your results show something that needs attention, you will be connected to trusted local providers. Nothing gets lost in the mail or left unexplained.
Where to Get Tested in Wichita
Clearway Testing Partner Clinics:
- GraceMed Health Clinic | 316-866-2000 | gracemed.org
- HealthCore Clinic | 316-691-0249 | healthcoreclinic.org
- Hunter Health | 316-262-2415 | hunterhealth.org
- Love Clinic and Med Spa | 316-669-4770 | loveclinicmedspa.com
- Wichita Black Nurses Association | 316-249-1926 | wichitabna.org
If you are homebound and cannot travel to a clinic, contact the Wichita Black Nurses Association at 316-882-1778 to inquire about a free at-home visit.
How to Take the First Step
- Visit ClearwayTesting.org to review current partner information, locations, and hours.
- Contact the Clearway partner you prefer and let them know you’d like to schedule a free groundwater-related health screening, or, you can do a walk-in if it is offered by that partner.
- Show up for your appointment, no ID or insurance is needed.
- Receive your results by phone from a nurse or health professional who will explain everything and answer your questions.
The entire process is built around making this as easy and accessible as possible. No paperwork barriers. No insurance requirements. No cost. Just a straightforward health screening that can give you real information about your health.
The Bottom Line on Eligibility
If you lived, worked, attended school, or spent significant time anywhere in northeast Wichita or Sedgwick County, and there is any possibility you were exposed to contaminated groundwater, you are eligible for a free health test from a Clearway Testing partner.
Not because something is necessarily wrong. But because free testing is available through December 31, 2026, because the health effects tied to TCE and PCE exposure can develop slowly and silently, and because knowing is always better than not knowing.
Clearway Testing exists because this community deserves clear answers.
Get tested. It is free, it is fast, and it could matter more than you know.
Clearway Testing is a community health initiative serving Sedgwick County residents. Free health testing is available through December 31, 2026. All testing is provided at no cost, no insurance required. For testing locations, hours, and scheduling, visit ClearwayTesting.org.