http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/0819/whitehall_health.ART_ART_08-19-09_B2_KGEQF6U.html?sid=101
| Whitehall health centers help the needy Patients pay what they can afford at Whitehall facility Wednesday, August 19, 2009 3:05 AM THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH TOM DODGE | Dispatch James Ayers, left, is greeted by volunteers Charles Moore and Deanna LaBianca, who were canvassing yesterday to promote the Whitehall Family Health Center to its neighbors.  The men and women who knocked on doors along Doney Street and Beechrun Road yesterday in Whitehall asked some pretty personal questions. Do you have health insurance? Have you ever had trouble getting medication? When did you last see a doctor? One of the canvassers, Charles Moore, 51, of Columbus, wrote down each answer on his clipboard before offering residents a solution: the Whitehall Family Health Center. The center, which opened in February, treats uninsured and underinsured patients and charges only what they can afford. Federal funds and money from Mount Carmel Health System cover the rest, said Randy Garland, chief financial officer for Heart of Ohio Family Health Centers, a nonprofit that operates that center and one on the Northeast Side. Staff and volunteers spent the last week in area neighborhoods promoting the Whitehall center. Moore, who struck up a conversation with anyone in sight, is like many of the residents he talked to -- uninsured. He's a janitor at the clinic and works about three hours a week. Moore said he relies on federal help for medical expenses. Heart of Ohio wants to accept more patients like Moore at its Capital Park branch on the Northeast Side. But the 1,700-square-foot center could barely accommodate the 3,000 patients it served last year. "We're doing the best we can with the little bit of space we have," said Joy Parker, Heart of Ohio's executive director. About $4.4 million in federal stimulus money would pay for a new 10,000-square-foot center not far from the existing building. If approved, the money will be awarded in November. "By the time you spread it around, the competition will be tight," Garland said. If rejected, Heart of Ohio will attempt to raise the money itself. The group has an annual budget of $3.2 million. An estimated 150,000 Columbus residents have no health insurance, said Cathy Levine, executive director of the Universal Health Care Action Network of Ohio. Levine and other health-care reform advocates say they want to see a network of neighborhood centers that can provide low-cost general care and keep people out of expensive emergency rooms. |
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