I will be spending tomorrow (Feb. 9) at Health Care Access, a clinic that serves low-income, uninsured Douglas County residents.
The staff is kindly allowing me to spend the day at the clinic and get a feel for what life is like at the clinic.
There are an estimated 14,000 residents in the county who do not have insurance.
I hope to be able to talk with patients who use the clinic as well as the staff and volunteers who make such care possible.
It also just happens to be the last day the clinic will be taking care of patients at 1920 Moodie Road, where it has been located for 18 years. It will be moving over the weekend to a new location, 330 Maine, across the street from Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
So, if you have a question about the clinic, please let me know by sending an e-mail to kbritt@ljworld.com or in the comments below.
I also will be Tweeting from the clinic throughout the day under the name LJW6NEWSHealth.
Comments
Nick Yoho 8 years, 3 months ago
This is, in my opinion, the best charity to attach your Giveback card to.
Amy Bartle 8 years, 3 months ago
I'm looking forward to the article. Here are some questions I'm interested in knowing the answers to:
To the person who attends the clinic: Do you have a job? Have you ever had health insurance? Was it through an employer or Medicaid or another person (parent or spouse). Do you have children? If yes, do they have insurance? Have you ever had health insurance? How much would you be willing to pay for health insurance? how many people are in your family and are they all without insurance? Have you ever gone without eating to pay for medication? Or have you ever forgone getting meds because you just couldn't afford it? Have you diluted or spread out your medication into smaller doses so that you could make it last longer? What do you worry most about? Are you relatively healthy? If you could change one thing about the clinic, what would it be?
To the staff at the clinic: Do you feel overworked? Do you feel like the patients appreciate the services that the clinic provides? Do you have enough resources to do your job? Do you have enough resources to provide quality care to the patients you serve? If you could change one thing about the clinic, what would it be? How does the care that the clinic provides compare to the care patients receive from a private facility/physician? Is your pay comparable to that if you worked in a private facility?
thinkagain 8 years, 3 months ago
How many patients are between 45-65?
Karrey Britt 8 years, 3 months ago
Thanks for the questions and input. I appreciate it.
Sunny Parker 8 years, 3 months ago
notwhatyouthink....i know plenty of unemployed people who would love to have a job at walmart, or anywhere else for that matter. Health insurance or not.
misseve 8 years, 3 months ago
How many of the uninsured are between the ages of 25 and 40? AND of those are not disabled and working?
Christine Anderson 8 years, 3 months ago
I'm not uninsured now, but have been many times in the past. It is terrifying, freakin' terrifying. Yes, I sometimes took b/p meds every other day vs. every day as prescribed, even though I knew the risks. Many times it was a wonderful dr. who provided samples that got me through. It has been several years since I needed HCA. At that time, all they wanted to know was, was I without other coverage and did my income fit in to the range where they could help. No hassle whatsoever. Very kind and professional people.
Liberty275 8 years, 3 months ago
We have the "Buick" plan right now, but I've spent a large portion of my life without health insurance. I don't remember ever being scared. I just did without.
BTW, you can get BP meds for $4 a month. My doctor wants me to take some brand name stuff with a stupid-high copay and I tell him no. My copay is like a buck per prescription per month, so I get a 3 dollar discount.
The same goes for antidepressants for agoraphobia. The doctor wants me to take a brand name SNRI with a copay of $50 per month, and I tell him to just write another script for clonazepam. $1 a month copay and it has the cool side effect of making everyone else much nicer people.
I don't have any questions for the people at the clinic. Just saying "thanks".to the staff would be enough for me.
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