THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 3, 1995 TAG: 9510030253
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: United Way
SOURCE: BY MARIE JOYCE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
There's no big sign in front of the Beach Health Clinic. Standing on the sidewalk in front of the two-story brick house, you have to squint a bit to make out the plaque on the front door that directs visitors to the side entrance.
But the clinic doesn't need a big sign. People know where it is.
The clinic, just two blocks from the ocean, serves low-income people who have no insurance of any type. Those poor enough to get Medicaid, the government medical insurance program for the indigent, can see a private doctor and don't qualify.
``The majority of our patients work, but they work at jobs where their employer doesn't offer health insurance,'' said Executive Director Barbara Ford. The clinic charges nothing, and for clients, who made 4,300 visits last year, it's the only connection to a family doctor.
On Friday, Marie Payne sat on a chair in one of the four examining rooms, holding a small paper bag filled with boxes of medicine. Payne, a cashier at a service station, doesn't have health insurance. She's normally an active, healthy person, but when stomach trouble assailed her, she had no other place to turn.
She went to the emergency room once when it got really bad, but didn't know what to do about regular treatment. She called the city Health Department and discovered that while the clinic there treats some problems, like sexually transmitted disease, they don't handle problems like hers.
While at the Beach Health Clinic, she also got some good news: Her blood sugar was normal. Diabetes runs in her family, and she was concerned enough to ask for a test.
If the stomach medicine doesn't work, the staff told her, come back for more tests.
The clinic began nine years ago in a two-bedroom bungalow on Baltic Avenue. The owner charged $1 a year rent. The two bedrooms were the examining rooms. The kitchen was the registration area.
In 1992, the clinic moved to a larger house in the 300 block of 22nd St. The city owns the building and lets it rent-free, although the clinic pays for some of the utilities.
The spare, sunny rooms include two offices for counseling. ``A lot of patients who come really need to talk to somebody - they have low income and they have medical problems,'' said Ford.
The facility has a lab for taking blood. The samples are sent to Virginia Beach General, which analyzes them for free.
The Beach Health Clinic aims not to duplicate services that are available at the Health Department, like sexually transmitted disease treatment, childhood immunizations and prenatal care.
The kindness of the community runs the facility. On Friday, volunteers worked in the office and escorted patients to examining rooms. A handful of paid staff members are bolstered by a stable of volunteer doctors, nurses and office workers - about 250 altogether.
Last year, the clinic got about $25,000 or so of its $149,000 annual budget from the United Way. The rest of the money comes from gifts from individuals, companies like Tidewater Health Care and Sentara Health System, and community organizations like churches and civic groups. While the clinic gets some money from government grants, it is an independent agency.
The clinic can use every bit of it, said Ford. In 1992, they had roughly 2,000 patient visits. This year, if trends continue, they'll handle about 6,000 visits.
Some of the increase, Ford says, is probably due to the clinic's spreading reputation.
But many of the patients are folks who didn't need the help several years ago. A recent visitor was a woman who had lived in New York and worked as a broker. She lost her job and spent her savings in a year of looking for work. Now she's come to Virginia Beach to stay with family while she continues her quest for a job. In the meantime, she has no money for visits to the doctor.
``People who had insurance are finding themselves without it, people who used to have something,'' Ford said. ``Most of the people who come here, (if) you would meet them in the mall, you wouldn't know.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
Prescription of compassion
TAMARA VONINSKI
Staff
Dr. Brant Thomas examines Benny Griffin at the Virginia Beach Health
Clinic, which is staffed almost completely by volunteers.
by CNB