THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 8, 1994 TAG: 9409070174
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: By SUSIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Long : 156 lines
THE SUFFOLK COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER has moved into its permanent home on Main Street, its staff pledging to make primary health care available to everyone in the community, regardless of ability to pay.
The facility - part of a network of community and migrant health centers throughout the United States - is the first of its kind in Suffolk.
The center got its start in late spring in a temporary, modular unit in a municipal parking lot across Main Street. But the move to more permanent quarters downtown has enabled the agency to expand its services.
The center offers general medical care in a family setting. Routine physicals, well-baby checks, education and preventive care are basic to the center's emphasis on prevention.
Last week, Judith Pilcher hooked her stethoscope around the collar of her white smock, pulled a teddy bear puppet over her left hand and grabbed a ``doctor's kit'' as she headed down the hall to greet her next patient.
The examination was a routine school physical, but Pilcher was prepared to alleviate any fears her young patient might have.
As she opened the examining room door, Pilcher and her hand puppet were greeted by a shy, toothy grin from 5-year-old Joquion Stephens, who started kindergarten at Booker T. Washington Elementary School this week.
Many children enjoy playing with the bear, said Pilcher, a nurse practitioner and one of the health providers at the new facility.
``Each child gives it his own name,'' said Pilcher, a Norfolk native who moved to Suffolk this spring.
Joquion, however, was more interested in the doctor's kit. Pilcher dressed ``Dr. Stephens'' - as she called him - in a pair of eyeglasses and a stethoscope and let him give a nurse a shot with a fake syringe.
Joquion's mother, Bettie Stephens, had been relieved to discover the downtown facility, which opened in May in its temporary quarters then moved to the former Leggett Department Store building about three weeks ago.
``I wasn't aware it was here until I called the Health Department,'' Bettie Stephens said. ``They were booked until Sept. 19, so they referred me here.''
Still, Stephens had to search for the building, which did not yet have its signs and awnings in place.
``I had a time finding it right here in Suffolk, believe it or not.''
That's a problem the center's staff hopes to overcome.
The health center is a non-profit, community-owned and -operated agency initially funded through a $550,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. As part of the nationwide health network, it is designed to provide medical care to underserved areas. The closest community health center is the Ivor Medical Center in Southampton County.
The center's mission is to augment the medical services in the area, making primary health care available to all citizens - not only low-income individuals. The facility stresses prevention and education in a family-care setting.
Dr. Vanessa Blowe, the medical director and leading health care provider, was attracted to the job because of the center's community service approach.
``I have always been interested in giving back to the community,'' said Blowe, a Petersburg native and graduate of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of the New Jersey Medical School.
Blowe, 35, had practiced medicine for six years at two Virginia Beach facilities - Navcare II at Chimney Hill Plaza and Oceana Ambulatory Clinic at the Naval Air Station - before coming to Suffolk.
She is particularly interested in the center's focus on prevention.
``That's something that community health centers are geared towards, and something I've always been interested in. Why wait for extra work?''
The center teaches patients to be involved in their own health care, helping them avoid many preventable illnesses and problems, Blowe said.
``Prevention covers a lot of evils,'' she said. ``But that hasn't really been our medical model. We have been real disease-oriented.''
The staff members work in teams - with nurses, health educators and support staff coordinating the health care provided by the physician or nurse practitioner.
``The team concept provides for a continuum of care,'' said Executive Director Laura Cross.
The center is hiring a second team of providers and will eventually become a three-physician facility, she said.
New patients are greeted by Willa M. DeLoatch, the patient accounts representative, who fills out their charts with background information.
Last week, DeLoatch questioned Angela Outlaw, who had made an appointment for a physical, in the enclosed area designed for patient confidentiality. Outlaw, who had been considering changing doctors, had recently heard about the facility and was glad to find medical help nearby, she said.
``When my kids were growing up, I could walk to their doctor. Now I have one I can walk to.''
The patients are charged fees on a sliding scale, according to their ability to pay. The center is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. But if needed, the office may remain open one or two evenings a week or Saturday mornings, Cross said.
After the new office renovation was finished last month, volunteers helped the staff move the computers and office equipment to the new facility.
``The people in the community have been so supportive,'' Cross said.
The three examining tables, however, were too heavy to lift.
``We just rolled them across the parking lot at 11 o'clock at night,'' Cross said. ``But we got them in here so we could open the next day for business.''
The center's patient and visitor entrance is through the parking lot off Saratoga Street, at the rear of the building, because there is no on-street parking in the front.
``We didn't want patients to have to cross Main Street,'' Cross said.
The facility is equipped with its own laboratory. Other on-site services such as X-rays will be added soon, Cross said. And perhaps eventually, a pharmacy and a dental program could be provided, she said.
The center also is trying to meet other patient needs, such as transportation, Blowe said. She hopes to persuade Tidewater Regional Transit to include the health center on its routes and to extend its bus service hours for patients who need to go to the hospital, a specialist or to another agency.
``I was amazed,'' Blowe said. ``I didn't know the difficulty of the transportation system here. Some of the things we really take for granted are really missing in Suffolk.''
Literacy is another big problem the community health center hopes to address.
``I find a number of people in my age group and up into their 40s and 50s who are not reading,'' Blowe said. ``We are giving out medicines and we have to stop and say, `Can you read this?' ''
The center hopes to work with the local literacy council to provide classes geared toward medical care, she said.
``To me, that's all a part of family practice. It's the total picture of community medicine. What makes a community health center different from just a doctor's office is we have a lot of extra resources. Hopefully, people would look at us as a resource for them.''
The Community Health Center also provides private interview rooms for support services, such as the Tidewater Aids Crisis Task Force, the Department of Social Services and the Women, Infants and Children Program.
The center's staff has received a warm reception from the medical community, Blowe said.
``There were some misunderstandings at first, but nobody has felt that medically there wasn't a need for a community health center,'' she said.
``The key is we're here to serve you. We're not here to take over, to run anybody out of town.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Bettie Stephens and her son, Joquion, 5, wait at the clinic to get
his physical before he starts kindergarten.[color cover photo]
Accounts representative Willa M. DeLoatch, above right, interviews
patient Angela Outlaw in an enclosed area designed for patient
confidentiality at the new center on North Main Street. Outlaw came
to the center for a physical, provided by Dr. Vanessa Blowe, below
center, and nurse assistant Helen Copeland, left.
Sherry Lansky, a licensed practical nurse, and phlebotomist Dee Dee
Brett work in the clinic's laboratory. Other on-site services such
as X-rays will be added soon, according to Laura Cross, the center's
executive director.
Health information is available in the waiting room at the health
center. The facility stresses prevention and education in a
family-care setting.
by CNB