Back On Her FEET |
School of Nursing Grant Helps Establish Indigent Care Network
She’d worked on her feet for 35 years, so Terry Weaver was no stranger to a little backache.
But in early 2005, when the pain moved to her feet and became nearly unbearable, she knew the problem wasn’t something she could fix with over-the-counter pain relievers anymore.
A trip to her physician confirmed the diagnosis she suspected: osteoporosis.
“It runs in my family, so I wasn’t all that surprised,” Ms. Weaver says. “I had overcompensated for my back pain with my feet, and that caused heel spurs.”
She had to quit her job as a waitress.
Doctors prescribed regular office visits and physical therapy, including aquatics therapy to ease the pain of bone fractures.
There was just one problem: Ms. Weaver, who had worked in hotels and restaurants most of her life, had no health insurance. She had no idea how she was going to pay for the expensive treatments.
“I began to beg and grovel with some degree of success,” she says. “But it was all very piecemeal. I had to take what I could get when I could get it.”
Four months later, doctors ordered an MRI that confirmed degenerative disk disease. She couldn’t pay the $3,000 bill.
“That diagnosis totally altered my life in more ways than one,” Ms. Weaver says.
Through the kindness of others and her own resilience, she tapped into community resources, including indigent care at University Hospital and a semi-regular doctor at Druid Park Community Health Care Center.
But her health problems have mounted. Ms. Weaver, 48, has since been diagnosed with high cholesterol, hypertension and nerve damage—all of which require expensive medications.
“My medications would cost me around $700 each month if I didn’t get some sort of assistance,” she says. “With prescription assistance, I get some of them for $5. I never knew I was going to fall apart at 47 years old, but I’m lucky to have found the help I have. I have friends in their early 60s who are just praying to make it until they’re 65 and can get on Medicare or Medicaid. They’re neglecting things for now and hoping they make it.”
Unfortunately, according to MCG researchers, Ms. Weaver’s story is not unusual. A large part of the problem, they say, is that no organized effort provides health care to the uninsured and under-insured in the Augusta area. With a two-year planning grant from the Healthcare Georgia Foundation, the School of Nursing hopes to begin fixing that problem.
The $200,500 grant enables the school to establish an Augusta network linking the medically underserved to health care, and linking their providers with resources needed to give quality care. The first step is assessing community needs and gathering input.
“Developing a health care network for the uninsured and under-insured is a pressing issue, not only for Augusta and the surrounding areas, but for Georgia and the entire country,” says School of Nursing Dean Lucy Marion. “We cannot ignore the problem and must work together to increase access to quality care and remove existing barriers, such as uncoordinated and tenuously funded services.”
“The health care system is clearly broken for some individuals,” says Dr. Gary Nelson, president of the Healthcare Georgia Foundation. “We realize the need for immediate improvement and are glad to be a part of MCG’s efforts.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the number of adults in the United States without health insurance rose by 2 million from 2005 to 2006, an increase of 6 percent. In Augusta, nearly 35,000 people are uninsured, according to 2000 CDC data.
In the Richmond County area, nearly 33 percent of the population receives public health insurance such as Medicaid, Medicare or Peach Care, according to the Richmond County Health Department. Fifteen percent have no health insurance.
“There currently is no organized referral system to make sure these people are reaching the providers that can help them,” says Dr. Nancy Williamson, assistant dean for faculty practice in the School of Nursing and project director for the grant. “We have a variety of care providers, but each seeks the same piece of the funding pie. We want to bring everyone to the table, including those who are already providing indigent care, and discuss how we can fix what is broken and enhance what is not.”
“These are individuals who are less likely to fill prescriptions, receive preventive care or detect the early signs of disease,” says Dr. Marion. “Because of that, they take longer to recover and die at a greater rate than those with adequate care, all of which creates a burden on the current health care system.”
Another problem, she says, is that hospitals are forced to limit non-emergency health care for the indigent and uninsured because of increasing treatment costs and lower government reimbursements.
MCG School of Nursing leaders are collaborating with a 15-member executive board of community stakeholders, including Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver, honorary chair, to create a network that can eventually be replicated elsewhere. The ultimate goal is for the network to gain Federally Qualified Healthcare Center status and be eligible for federal funding, a designation that can be shared with network members.
--Jennifer Hilliard