The Clinic That Cares: Volunteers Offer Medical Treatmentto 3,500 With No Insurance

By Paul Swiech, The Pantagraph, Bloomington, Ill.

Apr. 2–NORMAL — When Linda Benedict and her husband divorced several years ago, she found herself without health insurance for the first time.

She checked into private insurance for herself and her daughter. Even though she was working, Benedict, of Lexington, concluded she couldn’t afford even basic health insurance coverage.

She couldn’t go without health care. She had high blood pressure and her daughter has asthma.

Benedict was referred to the Community Health Care Clinic, the free clinic for people in need without health insurance. She and her daughter were treated and were given medicine to help keep their conditions under control.

“They’re very gracious at the clinic,” said Benedict, 59. “They are not demeaning at all. I’m so appreciative. I don’t know what I’d do without the clinic.”

Benedict is among 3,500 active clinic patients, meaning they have been seen at the clinic at 902 Franklin Ave., Normal, within the past two years, said clinic executive director Shirley Drazewski.

The clinic, which opened 13 years ago this month, serves those patients with a staff of three full-time employees and five part-time employees. Drazewski said the clinic couldn’t serve patients without the support of BroMenn Regional Medical Center in Normal and OSF St. Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington, as well as 200 volunteers.

Of those volunteers, about 20 make up a core group who work at the clinic weekly. The 200 also includes 50 primary care physicians who see patients at the clinic about three times a year and 100 sub-specialists who accept clinic patients to perform needed tests, procedures and surgeries.

Drazewski said this is an appropriate week to call attention to those doctors because Friday is national Doctors’ Day.

“I’m very pleased that our community has provided the opportunity for most people to have access to health care and a wide variety of specialty physician services,” said Drazewski, who has been a nurse for 28 years and has worked at both BroMenn and St. Joseph.

Drazewski also is director of the Illinois Free Clinic Association and knows that some free clinics have difficulty getting enough physicians to volunteer.

“Many of them have waiting lists of a year or more for appointments to see specialists,” she said. “When I go to meetings, that (how to get more doctors to volunteer) is a lot of what they talk about. That’s not an issue in this community.”

Several doctors who have volunteered at the clinic since it opened were anxious to pat their colleagues on the back but were matter-of-fact about why they volunteer.

“I’m impressed at how the doctors pull together to see patients and how the hospitals pitch in,” said Dr. Michael Woods, a family medicine physician with Carle Clinic of Bloomington-Normal. “I think the community is healthier because of it.

Dr. Paul Pedersen of OSF Medical Group Internal Medicine, Bloomington, is medical director of the community clinic.

“I’m very grateful to the physicians who see patients at the clinic and to those who accept referrals,” Pedersen said. “We’re incredibly lucky in our community to have these physicians offering their services to every segment of our population.

“We all got into medicine because we want to help people,” Pedersen said. When treating clinic patients, doctors know they are making a difference.

“This is an area where I can have significant impact,” Pedersen said.

Woods said, “I volunteered at the beginning because I saw a huge need for the underprivileged in this community and wanted to be part of a solution.”

Dr. Stephen Kindred of Medical Hills Internists, Bloomington, said all Medical Hills doctors volunteer at the clinic “to help the underserved in our community and to give back.”

Kindred and Woods are among primary care physicians who volunteer three to four times a year at the clinic, treating patients with chronic diseases, such as asthma, high blood pressure, diabetes, seizures, urinary tract and upper respiratory infections, back pain and depression. When patients need further testing or procedures, they are referred to the hospitals or to sub-specialists who treat the patients at no charge.

“These are people who have nowhere else to turn to,” Woods said.

Kindred said “a lot of these folks are working two or three jobs but don’t make enough to afford insurance.”

“I sincerely believe that the clinic has made a big difference in this community,” Woods said. “It’s not a perfect solution. But for people who fall between the cracks because they have no insurance and aren’t on Medicare, this is a huge benefit.”

Without the clinic, some patients wouldn’t seek medical care until their problems became acute, the doctors said. Then they’d go to the emergency room, where their deteriorated condition would be more difficult and more costly to treat.

The result would be longer treatment time and a greater burden on society because of the patient’s cost of care and time away from work. Some patients would lose their jobs.

Untreated asthma, depression, diabetes and cancer could lead to life-threatening conditions, Woods said.

“This assures that this segment of our community is seen regularly,” Kindred said. “These are nice folks. They are really appreciative.”

One specialist who accepts clinic patients is Dr. Barry Slotky of Slotky & Santiago Woman Care, Bloomington.

Slotky has treated clinic patients with gynecological problems, such as chronic bleeding and pain.

“I do it because it is part of giving back to a community that has been good to me. I believe it’s part of my responsibility.” Slotky said.

“It’s gratifying to have people appreciate their care,” he added. “I don’t need more than a ‘thank you.’”

Benedict is one clinic patient who has used both primary care physician services as well as referral to specialists.

When she was losing hearing in her right ear, the clinic referred her to an ear, nose and throat specialist, who ordered an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) test that was performed at one of the hospitals. There was no charge for any follow-up services.

“I don’t want to be a burden on society so I only go there (to the clinic) when I have to,” Benedict said. “I get my medicine from there but I don’t run in there every time I get a cold. I go there for anything I can’t take care of myself.

“We are blessed to have a clinic in this town that is top notch,” Benedict said. “And these doctors give you top-of-the-line care.”

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13 years later, Twin City clinic still up and running

By Paul Swiech

pswiech@pantagraph.com

NORMAL — When the Community Health Care Clinic opened in 1994, organizers thought it would provide temporary health care to people in need.

“We thought it would serve a population of people who were without a stable job or benefits but were moving up, and a population of people who, because of illness or other things beyond their control, were temporarily on their way down,” recalled Dr. Paul Pedersen, who was among physicians who opened the clinic.

The thinking was that, after their financial condition improved, they no longer would be clinic patients and would go to regular primary care physicians’ offices.

“What we didn’t understand is there’s a large gap in the middle, of people who may never go up or down and who require continuous care,” said Pedersen, the clinic’s medical director.

“The population of low-wage workers is a bigger segment of the community than we thought,” said Shirley Drazewski, the clinic’s executive director.

“Many of these people are working two or three jobs with no (health insurance) benefits and are making $8 to $10 an hour” so they can’t afford health insurance for themselves or their families, Pedersen said.

Many clinic patients work in the service sector. Some of their employers offer health insurance, but employees who work part-time may not be eligible, Drazewski said. Others simply can’t afford it.

As a result, most of the clinic’s 3,500 patients have been with the clinic for several years, Drazewski said.

The clinic’s office staff puts people through an application process to make sure they are in need and eligible for clinic services. That includes proof of income and evidence of how they are “getting by” on their income.

People who get a job with insurance benefits, who make more money so they can afford insurance, or who qualify for Medicare are discharged as clinic patients.

Many clinic patients have chronic conditions (such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease and arthritis) that require doctor visits and medication, Drazewski said.

The clinic staff consists of Drazewski, a full-time office manager, a full-time patient care associate-translator, two part-time nurse practitioners, and a part-time registered nurse, drug assistance coordinator and receptionist. The staff, along with primary care physicians who volunteer at the clinic, function like a physician’s office, providing primary care and coordinating tests and procedures with sub-specialists and the two local hospitals.

The clinic has a dispensary that provides prescribed medicines to clinic patients. Medicines are donated by pharmaceutical companies, doctors’ offices and drug company representatives.

“The clinic had to buy $5,000 to $10,000 worth of medications (last year),” Drazewski said. “But the 17,000 medication orders that we processed in 2006 had a retail value of $2 million.”

In 2006, the clinic made 558 patient-referrals to sub-specialists in the area. During the first two months of this year, 145 referrals were made.

“A lot of people without insurance couldn’t get in to see these specialists,” Drazewski said. “But when the Community Health Care Clinic makes a referral, the doctors’ offices know that it’s credible, legitimate, that the patient has been screened, and the work called for is necessary.”

The clinic has a budget of $425,000 this year. About 35 percent of that is from the United Way of McLean County. The balance is from donations from local foundations, businesses, churches and patients themselves, Drazewski said.

While most doctors are good about responding to Drazewski’s request to work a shift at the clinic or to treat a clinic patient, “we can always use more,” she said. She said more than 80 percent of primary care physicians in McLean County and most sub-specialists see clinic patients.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Pantagraph, Bloomington, Ill.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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