More than 200,000 Georgians have no health insurance. And although they may be working, when they get sick many can't afford to see a doctor. There are about 30 health clinics in Georgia that provide health care to the uninsured; one of them is the Macon Volunteer Clinic.
From a nondescript office building in the Inglewood Section of Macon, the Macon Volunteer Clinic provides free health care to more than 1,000 uninsured adults who live in Bibb County.
Gail Collette is a typical patient. She works as a front desk clerk at a motel on Riverside Drive. "I make just above minimum wage, and I'm just barely able to survive. I had no medical care. If I get a cold I could buy something over the counter but beyond that I did nothing. I just grinned and bared it. I have no health insurance whatsoever, so in order to go to a doctor it costs me almost a week's salary."
Collette was having trouble with pain in her knee. Friends told her about the clinic, and she made an appointment. Doctors there discovered that she also had dangerously high blood pressure. They are treating her high blood pressure as well as her knee.
Some of the patients come in with coughs and colds, but according to Lynn Denny, the clinic's medical director, "A lot of the problems we have are chronic diseases - high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity's a major one, elevated blood cholesterol, elevated blood triglycerides."
Denny says that most of these diseases could have been prevented if the patients had regular medical care, medications, and the knowledge and support to change their diets, stop smoking, and participate in physical activity.
Many of the patients have minimum wage jobs like beauticians, restaurant workers, gardeners, painters and laborers. Health insurance isn't offered by their employers and private insurance is too expensive. And for these working poor, their incomes are too high to qualify for Medicaid. Although their children may qualify for Peachcare, they are without medical resources.
The clinic's director, Valerie Biskey, says that the clinic is filling a gap, a crack in the community's safety net. "They make a choice between living and having a roof over their head and food, and then of course having medicines. We are a primary care clinic."
Volunteer physicians, dentists, nurses, dental assistants and hygienists, optometrists, podiatrists, and physical therapists provide all the health care at the Macon clinic, but money is still needed to pay for drugs, lab tests, and special procedures as well as administrative costs. Most of this comes from foundations and private donations.
Volunteer doctor Jack Menendez practiced surgery in Macon for 35 years. Since 2003, he's been coming into the clinic four days a week. "It's the right thing to do. We can help these people. I don't look at them as anything except as unfortunate in their employment. They don't have money for insurance; others are in low paying jobs that don't have insurance, so we can provide them with health care."
Retired nurse Helen Bridges received financial support to go to nursing school. She feels volunteering is a way to give back to the community. "This way I can help return to the community the help that was given to me."
And the volunteers are not just giving it back to the community; they are providing a vital health service and winning the admiration from patients. Patient Gail Collett says, "They gave me my medication. I saw the doctor, the nurses, and they taught me things about my sodium intake, my blood pressure. This has been a godsend for me. It really has been a blessing for me."
In September, the Georgia Rural Health Association named the Macon Volunteer Clinic as this year's Outstanding Rural Health Clinic.
