Health clinics for uninsured coming to Eudora

Health Care Access service starts June 1

Eudora residents without medical insurance will have the opportunity to take advantage of some special health clinics beginning June 1.

Douglas County’s Health Care Access will hold clinics for the uninsured from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays at Eudora Family Care.

“This is really our first attempt to have a clinical presence in Eudora,” Nikki King, executive director of Health Care Access, said. “Our hope with this is people will hear about it and they will come and visit our nurses. If we can’t take care of their problems there, then we can have them come to our main site in Lawrence and get referrals to specialists.”

The Health Care Access Clinic, 1920 Moodie Road, provides medical assistance for Douglas County residents without health insurance. The group works with 70 area physicians who donate their time to assist patients with the program. Health Care Access also has a medication assistance program.

Last year, the group had a community clinic in Baldwin with Dr. David Jones, a physician in Baldwin.

Eudora Family Care is a medical clinic owned by Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

“Part of our vision is to be able to help those who need health care but can’t afford it,” said Bob Harvey, director of family practice clinics for LMH. “We recognize some people in Eudora may fall into that category. We appreciated Health Care Access asking us to be part of this project.”

King said a study completed by the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation’s Kansas City affiliate showed that Eudora has a high concentration of low-income people. That paired with the figures showing that about 10,000 Douglas County residents are without medical insurance reinforced the idea that Health Care Access should have a presence in the community, King said.

Who Qualifies

To qualify for assistance from Health Care Access, people must:

¢ live in Douglas County;

¢ lack any type of health insurance or resource, such as veterans benefits, Medicaid and Medicare; and

¢ have a gross monthly income less than 150 percent of the poverty level for adults, which is $2,418 .75 for a family of four, and less than 185 percent of the poverty level for children, which is $2,983.12.

“We know there’s a population there that we’re trying to get in front of,” she said.

The clinics will be funded with a $7,000 grant. The grant will be used for staffing the clinic and for outreach and promotion materials for the clinic. King said she hoped the grant money would last so the clinics could be held until the end of this year.

People can schedule an appointment with the Eudora Outreach Clinic by calling the Health Care Access Clinic at 841-5760. More information about the organization can be found online at www.healthcareaccess.org.