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Clinic Opens in Greene ; It Serves Patients Without Medicaid or Health Insurance

Posted on: Sunday, 18 September 2005, 06:00 CDT

State Sen. Emmett W. Hanger Jr. lauded the newly opened Greene Care Clinic this week while acknowledging a gap in health-care coverage for the "working poor."

"There's no question we're going to have to wrestle with that as health care becomes more and more expensive," said Hanger, an Augusta County Republican whose district includes Greene County. "The free clinics have begun to fill that void."

About 1 million Virginians lack health care, said Mark Cruise, executive director of the Virginia Association of Free Clinics. Greene County has an estimated 1,500 uninsured residents.

As of early this week, no one had visited the clinic since its Sept. 1 opening, but Executive Director Janet Call said she has high hopes for a sizable clientele once word spreads.

The clinic, which is open Mondays and Thursdays from 6 to 8:30 p.m., will serve patients between the ages of 19 and 64 who have no health insurance and who are not covered by Medicaid. They must call ahead to make appointments. The number is (434) 985-7000.

Services volunteered

Organizers have converted a hallway into a temporary clinic in the building that houses the Jefferson Area Board for Aging's senior center and the county library. Six local doctors and other medical personnel have volunteered their services.

Cruise said Virginia has one of the strictest Medicaid funding policies in the country. Much of the money goes to children and the elderly, for whom the state often provides supplements for Medicare.

But for adults 64 and younger, funding largely is restricted to those who are blind, disabled or pregnant, Cruise said. That leaves many people uninsured, he added.

James Howard, director of Greene County Social Services, said many of his clients fall into that category. In the past, he's had to direct those suffering from medical problems to the emergency room at the University of Virginia Medical Center or to the Charlottesville Free Clinic.

Transportation presents a problem for some, Howard said.

But the clinic provides a local place to meet non-emergency medical needs -- an important service, said Del. Robert B. Bell, R- Albemarle.

`Can be a big trip'

"The trip into Charlottesville can be a big trip if you don't have a car," he said. Bell added that one of the most important things state legislators can do to help free clinics is to "clear away bad laws" that bind such efforts in red tape.

Dr. Mary B. Preston, a U.Va. physician who specializes in internal medicine, said she expects to see patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.

Most of the 63,500 patients who entered the state's free clinics last year were women ages 40 to 50 with persistent illnesses, particularly asthma and diabetes, Cruise said.

The need for constant medication drains incomes, Call said. Pharmaceutical firms have donated some expensive medicines, which the clinic keeps in a locked cabinet in a stairwell, and organizers continue to raise money.

Donors have given about $30,000 so far, and an anonymous donor has pledged matching funds of up to $100,000.

Call said she hopes prospective patients will come in to meet the clinic volunteers so they can meet their goal of helping them.

"We now have stepped forward and said we're going to take care of our neighbors," she said.

Source: Richmond Times - Dispatch

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