THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 13, 1995 TAG: 9501110128
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY SUSAN SMITH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 192 lines
A YOUNG MOTHER shifted her baby on her arm. An elderly man pulled his coat close to his chest, against the wind. Two women talked quietly, and someone tried to stifle a hacking cough. The line outside Chesapeake Care clinic quickly grew to more than 30 people.
They all had something in common: They were sick and they had no insurance and not much money.
The doors of Chesapeake's only free health-care clinic opened promptly at 5 p.m., and the patients filed into the waiting room.
Linda Myers and Doris Chessoms, volunteer receptionists, pulled files for patients who had been there previously. On the outside, each file was stamped ``Knox County Health Department.''
``See, everything is donated,'' explained Kay Smith, who volunteers at the clinic after working at the office of a local neurosurgeon.
Smith met quietly with each new patient to review the one-page medical history form and to ask a few necessary financial questions. Then it was time to see the nurse.
Dr. C.W. Marks, an internist, and Craig Hayek, Marty Jones and Virginia Strickland, the volunteer medical team for the night, were ready to get started.
Strickland took the first patient's pulse, temperature and blood pressure and asked several pertinent medical questions. She had signed on at the clinic immediately after receiving her nursing degree last May.
Marks moved between the four examining rooms and the tiny laboratory. There were flu-like aches and pains, runny noses, croupy coughs, a mammogram to schedule and a patient with rectal bleeding to refer to the emergency room at Chesapeake General Hospital.
Hayek is a residential student at Eastern Virginia Medical School. He started coming to the clinic as part of his training. Now he comes to help.
A little more than a year ago, Bill Kuykendall, 45, was one of those that stood in line for help.
``I always worked hard, and I always had insurance,'' said Kuykendall. ``My wife and I tried to do things in the community to help out. I thought a free clinic was for the indigent or people who couldn't help themselves. I never expected to have to ask for help.''
Kuykendall was an industrial engineer whose insurance premiums rose to $80 per week when he was working. Then he lost his job, and there was no insurance.
He has hypertension, arthritis and dermatological problems. There is a continuing need for medical care.
``I would have gone without medical help,'' said Kuykendall, ``if it had not been for the clinic.''
Kelley Pearce, 24, had a similar story.
``I would have waited until I was hospitalized,'' said Pearce. ``These people have been my guardian angels.''
Pearce is unemployed because of several medical problems - a pinched nerve, asthma and bronchial infections. The clinic helped her with her medication and referred her to an orthopedic surgeon.
``Next, I want to get a job,'' said Pearce. ``And then I am going to volunteer here.''
Every Wednesday and Thursday evening and Saturday mornings the doors open at the small Sparrow Road office. Nearly all the clinic's staff members, including receptionists and doctors, are volunteers.
Janet Call, a nurse practitioner and adjunct professor at ODU, is the clinic's paid executive director. Marcia Olsen and Jane Lucy, office assistants, also receive salaries.
Call is a member of the clinic's board of directors. She coordinates the volunteers, reviews patient files, follows up on laboratory and X-ray reports, monitors the budget and finds time to call patients at home when she has a concern about their condition or medication.
On certain evenings, specialty clinics are scheduled for gynecology, orthopedics, neurology, dermatology and health-education workshops for diabetes, high cholesterol and blood-pressure control.
``I'm often amazed at the amount of suffering and pain that people will tolerate or have accepted because of their finances,'' said Call.
Patients say the clinic staff treats them with respect and genuine concern.
``I've nothing but praise for everybody,'' said Kuykendall. ``They didn't pass judgment or scrutinize my financial situation. They were courteous and, most importantly, they were caring.''
Receptionist Linda Myers works at the clinic for a very personal reason. Her daughter needed extensive medical treatment.
``She had no insurance, and a $3,000 medical bill grew very quickly,'' explained Myers. ``The clinic took care of my daughter and referred her to a specialist. Now I come in to help the only way I can right now.''
``Everyone should do what they can. This is one way of helping each other right here in our own community,'' said Chessoms.
When Gloria Klinefelter first came to Chesapeake Care, she and her husband had both lost their jobs. When the cost of their insurance rose to about $700 a month, it had to be dropped.
Then Klinefelter had an angina attack.
``I was in tears the first time I came here,'' confessed Klinefelter. ``Partly because I was embarrassed and scared and partly because I had a lot of pride and no money. There were so many tests and never any bills.''
In August, she developed a blockage. A doctor at the clinic referred her to a vascular surgeon.
``Janet would call me at home to check on me,'' said Klinefelter. ``Good Lord, these are good people. Everyone at the clinic is doing their job from their heart, not from their pocketbook.''
There's a small box for donations on a counter in the clinic's waiting room. Sometimes wadded dollar bills are stuffed into the box.
``But we never ask,'' said Chessoms. ``People give what they can.''
According to Call, patients sometimes give in ways other than money. They have had people donate office equipment and furniture and even to paint or clean in exchange for care.
Kuykendall offered to do small mechanical, electrical or plumbing repairs.
Stella Pinkham works at the clinic on her day off. She originally planned to serve once a month. Now she comes in almost every Wednesday.
``Although I like my regular job, I get paid to fulfill certain responsibilities, said Pinkham, a pharmacist technician during the day at Sentara Leigh Memorial Hospital.
``It does me a lot of good,'' admitted Pinkham. ``There's a great joy in helping others. Besides, we all could sometime be in the position to need help.''
Pinkham staffs the clinic pharmacy, where rows of samples and donated medicines stock a small closet pharmacy. No painkillers or controlled substances are kept in the clinic.
Chesapeake Care was founded in the summer of 1992, when Dr. Juan Montero became concerned about people he refers to as the ``working poor,'' people whose jobs do not provide insurance benefits or who have only enough income to cover the basics of life. Some are poor, but not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid or Medicare programs.
``These are truly the people who are suffering from the problems with our national health care system,'' Montero said. He estimated at the time that about 30,000 citizens of Chesapeake could not afford the medical attention they needed.
Montero shared his concerns with a friend, former Chesapeake mayor Sid Oman, and together they recruited others to help make the free clinic a reality.
``I had no grandiose plan,'' said Montero. ``I just wanted to help, and I had no time for excuses. I've always believed if you have to do something you just do it.''
One evening, Montero met Dr. Stanley Jennings in the Chesapeake General Hospital parking lot and told him about his plans. Jennings handed over the keys to an empty office behind Irwin's Good Neighbor Pharmacy.
The clinic accepted its first patients in October 1992.
Now about 200 patients a week are seen at the clinic for a variety of complaints, ranging from the sniffles to critical cases such as cancer or cardiovascular problems.
Chesapeake General Hospital absorbs the cost of minor laboratory and X-ray fees.
``Our purpose is to give comfort, peace of mind and medicine to our community members,'' said Dr. Larry Legum, dermatologist and board member. ``The clinic is continuing to grow and plan.''
Later this month, they will add a dental clinic for emergency oral surgery.
``There is no free dental care program in Chesapeake,'' said Ralph Powers, a dental surgeon. ``But soon there will be.''
Powers and Harold Marioneux, also a dental surgeon, have spent the past several months planning the clinic's dental care program.
About 69 doctors volunteer at the clinic, and about 70 more are involved in the referral program. Some, like Dr. Florenzino Ello, come whenever their schedules permit.
Ello is the general medical officer aboard the U.S.S. George Washington, just back from a six-month deployment. His family is in Orlando, Fla., so while he was in port with nothing to do, he dropped by the clinic to help.
``All people need a place to go when they are ill,'' said Ello. ``And those with chronic problems need education as well as care. This is a wonderful program.'' ILLUSTRATION: CARE FROM THE HEART
ON THE COVER
A patient gets attention from Dr. John C. Schaefer at Chesapeake
Care. Staff photo by Steve Earley.
Mammie Adams, left, gets her blood pressure checked by volunteer
nurse Phyllis Adams.
Staff photos by STEVE EARLEY
Volunteer pharmacist Dorothy Winters, right, helps Dr. John Schaefer
find a medication.
Staff photos by STEVE EARLEY
Dr. Florencio Ello, left, checks patient John Dozier in one of the
examining rooms at the Chesapeake Care clinic.
After a day of volunteering is over, doctors gather in the hallway
to visit. Left to right are Dr. Florencio Ello, Dr. Edward Hanna and
Dr. Juan Montero, who founded the clinic in 1992.
TO HELP
An orientation for volunteers will be conducted at 7 p.m. Feb. 7
at Chesapeake Care clinic. For more information, call 366-0303.
KEYWORDS: FREE CLINIC HEALTH CARE by CNB