Published: October 26, 2009 09:27 pm      

No insurance has free clinics seeing many in poorer health

GREEN VALLEY — Joblessness and lack of health insurance are sending more of West Virginia’s residents to free clinics not only for basic health care, but also for serious ailments normally treated by specialists.

Statewide, more new faces are coming through clinic doors. Linda West, executive director of the West Virginia Association of Free Clinics, told the Associated Press that the number of patients being seen has increased by 5,000 people this year.

Locally, Mercer Health Right is seeing its share of those requests for treatment, said Director Debbie Enigk.

“It’s kind of been a steady increase, really, over the past two or three years,” Enigk said Monday. “Some of them are people working at different jobs where they no longer have health insurance. They’re either part-timers or the new job they have doesn’t offer health insurance. A lot of them are people who lost their jobs in other states and lost their homes, and they’ve moved in with family or friends here, so they have no health coverage and no jobs.”

The new patients requesting treatment also have more serious health issues, she added.

“Their living circumstances are a lot of times really poor. We also find that we’re getting a lot more patients who lost their health insurance and much more serious health issues. Instead of coming in with hypertension, they might have had health insurance to cover heart stints, but now they can’t see a cardiologist because they don’t have coverage,” Enigk said.

In other instances, Mercer Health Right has seen patients with seizure disorders who have not seen a neurologist in years because they don’t have health coverage, she said.

Enigk said the clinic has seen an increase in state funding from the Legislature.

“They’re recognizing that we’re being asked to do more,” she said. “But the cost of doing care is going up, too. It’s about a two week wait for any appointment.”

The clinic now sees 500 to 600 people a month.

“Some days we stay here late because we jam in extras. Sometimes people are really sick, and we can’t make them wait,” Enigk said.

Some serious cases are referred to major medical centers. Virginia patients are referred to the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va., and West Virginia patients are referred to specialty clinics with West Virginia University.

“It has become difficult to make referrals,” Enigk said. “Sometimes they say they don’t take patients from southern West Virginia.”

Mercer Health Right could use more donations, local physicians to take patients in specialty areas and volunteer nurses, she said.

“I really need volunteer pharmacists,” she added.

Mercer Health Right can be contacted at 304-327-2410 or at Rural Route 2, Box 378, Bluefield, WV 24701.