Hope for the Uninsured
Kathy Williams
Assistant City Editor, Herald Democrat
July 1, 2007
These are not the poorest community members, but those in the middle: They don't have benefits from Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Administration or Children's Health Insurance Plan and they don't qualify for the county's indigent health care coverage. While many factors force the numbers higher and higher, Grayson Volunteer Health Clinic is welcoming the people affected across the threshold to examining rooms, laboratories and health education classrooms.
With volunteers, from doctors, nurses, lab technicians and social workers to receptionists and translators, GVHC performs little health miracles every day on a shoestring budget. Of the 21,000, about 14,000 truly need help, the others elect not to have insurance for reasons other than affordability, said Linda Bryant, the clinic's administrative director and currently its only paid employee. Among the uninsured in Grayson County are 4,573 children. Bryant, too, began as a volunteer, helping to birth the clinic in Dr. I.A. Sarris' medical office in February 2003.
Her quick smile beams at the faces of patients who walk through the door. They represent every race, age and gender. They receive care based on a sliding fee scale.
"We are a resource for the uninsured in Grayson County, virtually the only resource for basic, primary health care," Bryant said. "That's important because if people will come here, we can keep them out of the emergency room. We are not free, but we are affordable with fees running from $5 to $25 a visit with no extra charge for lab work."
Another, huge resource available through the clinic is free and reduced-cost prescription medicine. She said pharmaceutical companies, through local doctors, donate the medicine, although the clinic does not distribute or prescribe any narcotics.
"We do all the paper work and maintenance for getting them on the program," Bryant said. Bryant said she worked for United Way and became that agency's representative on a task force determining the need for primary health care.
"It was a community collaboration," Bryant said. United Way, Texoma Council of Governments, Salvation Army, Mental Health Mental Retardation Services of Texoma, Texoma Medical Center, Wilson N. Jones Medical Center, some private doctors, the Grayson County Health Department and the Ministerial Alliance, all were involved. "Dr. Sarris was instrumental. We worked for a long time on a plan. Finally, we were meeting one roadblock after another and Dr. Sarris and one or two others said, 'You know, we just need to do this because we can find reasons all day long that we need to wait for this or that to happen. We just need to do this and get started.' So that's what we did."
That first clinic on a Saturday morning had more volunteers than patients in attendance, Bryant said. In May 2003, TMC donated the building in which the clinic now operates at 900 N. Armstrong Ave. in Denison, at the intersection with MLK Street. The clinic continues its partnership with United Way.
The clinic's founding board members were Bryant, Mark Holmes, Sarris and Todd Stracener. In January 2004, Bryant left the board and became the administrative director. Grayson Volunteer Health Clinic gained another angel shortly after it organized when Dr. Angela Latham became its medical director.
A cheerful atmosphere pervades the clinic as Susie Fry, a volunteer social worker, demonstrated as she walked in during Bryant's interview. She made sure that photographer and reporter had the correct spelling of her name. That day her name tag read "Suzy". Evidently she gets a new tag, with a joke spelling, every day she works.
Asked who isn't eligible to get services through the clinic, Bryant replied, those who have the insurance described above, those who live outside Grayson County and those who make more than the income guidelines allow (more than $20,000 for singles and $40,000 for all other household sizes.)
When the clinic first opened, it operated two Saturdays a month out of Sarris' cardiology office. Those who wanted services registered at one time and then would come back to get help. That meant the clinic mainly served those with chronic health conditions, like diabetes and high blood pressure, and didn't treat acute cases. That has changed slowly since January 2003. The first year, GCHC held 24 clinics; the next year, 46; the next year, 75; and last year, 122. This year, more than 100 clinics already had been conducted by mid-June.
The number of clinics held and patients seen will continue to rise when Grayson Volunteer Health Clinic realizes its dream of hiring a full-time physician's assistant and nurse practitioner. That event, set for July, will help support the care 10 to 12 local physicians currently provide the clinic's patients.
"Now we don't have just one particular day and time new patients can come in and register," Bryant said. "Now they can come in to register any time the clinic is open: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 8:30 to 5:30 and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. They just have to bring in proof of income, two months' check stubs and last year's tax return. And any other household income. ... in some cases they can be seen either that day or the following day."
The clinic offers a full array of care from treating asthma and arthritis to cancer, thyroid disease and dental issues. Hypertension, depression, diabetes and elevated cholesterol account for 58 percent of the clinic's business. To cut costs, both financial and human, the clinic offers a variety of prevention education classes to help patients help themselves. GVHC offers gynecological clinics through services of a nurse practitioner.
The volunteers seem to love what they're doing. Carmen Fish has served as a volunteer translator since the first session in Sarris' office. She said a friend of hers who is a nurse told her "what was going on. I came here and have been coming here ever since. I love it. I think it's great."
She said she stays pretty busy and that Spanish speaking clients sometimes have special needs. She said a large number of them have diabetes.
"Some of them come to the U.S. and they are already taking shots," Fish said. "They shouldn't have. It's very sad. There's a lot of people who have problems that don't even have the knowledge that we're here. This is a great thing because we don't ask their background."
She said it's important for people to know their health options so they can keep from going to the emergency room. Some people don't know the translation service is available and Fish urged them to leave a message on the answering machine even if they don't hear Spanish, just speak after the tone, she said, and she'll get the message. "Something happens here every day to save people's lives," Fish said.
Carol Manery, pastor of River of Life Full Gospel Church, has found her life weaving through the clinic and vice versa. Latham referred her to the clinic as a patient and then Manery joined the board of directors, representing the patients and sharing their perspective.
Manery said she qualifies for the clinic's services because of her modest salary leading the church. But almost as soon as she received health care, she began returning the blessing, holding blue grass singings every last Saturday night of the month. That's every last Saturday, except in December, when it's the first. She said the singings involve an interdenominational group of musicians.
"I counted people from seven different Baptist churches one month," Manery said. She not only sings, but she also plays piano and guitar.
In January, she met a new challenge in her life, when she underwent heart surgery. Then the clinic turned the tables on her and held a benefit to help pay her hospital bills.
"One thing that stands out to me is that this group came up from Dallas to hear about the clinic," Manery said. "As many patients as they could fit around one of those long tables sat and for hours each patient told what this clinic had meant to them. There were people who were bad diabetics who couldn't get their medicine or see a doctor because they couldn't afford it. They were so depressed. They said God had really helped them through this clinic to get on with their life. I thought, man that's what it's all about: Helping people who can't help themselves."
*www.graysonvhc.org
Kathy Williams
Assistant City Editor, Herald Democrat
Phone: (903) 893-8181, ext. 2257
Fax: (903) 868-2106
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