{"id":993,"date":"2010-03-17T14:46:12","date_gmt":"2010-03-17T14:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/voteforjoe.com\/wheresjoe\/?p=431"},"modified":"2010-03-17T14:46:12","modified_gmt":"2010-03-17T14:46:12","slug":"an-answer-to-the-health-care-debate-in-athens-georgia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/?p=993","title":{"rendered":"an answer to the health care debate, in Athens, Georgia"},"content":{"rendered":"

More on Jubilee partners in following entries… \u00a0 I’m fast forwarding to our next stop in Athens, Georgia, today, and a tremendously refreshing and innovative \u00a0“free clinic.” \u00a0 While the health care debate \u00a0grinds on in D.C., a solution — at least a partial solution — is evolving in the trenches out here. \u00a0 Mercy Health Center<\/a> (MHC) is “…a community of volunteers [that] provides quality healthcare in a Christ-centered environment to our under-served neighbors.” \u00a0 MHC was started \u00a0at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Athens \u00a0in 2001. \u00a0 Over time, it became ecumenical and moved to a new facility on Oglethorpe Avenue. \u00a0 Like an Amish barn raising, the clinic was partially built by appreciative patient capenters, plumbers, electricians… \u00a0 Each morning at the clinic is started \u00a0with prayer among the staff and volunteers. \u00a0 And in the course of a month, there are some 400 volunteer doctors, nurses, general citizenry and University of Georgia students doing medicine, intake, janitorial, filing… \u00a0 There are also six full-time and three part-time paid staff. \u00a0 Mary Baxter is an assitant administrator here. \u00a0 During a tour, she told me that several churches in town donate monthly to the clinic, several others donate quarterly. \u00a0 Besides monetary donations, other churches provide “in-kind” donations. \u00a0 For instance, \u00a0several churches cook dinners for the evening clinic workers a couple times a week and local \u00a0places like Subway and Chic’ Filet donate food. \u00a0 \u00a0Another church does yard work at the clinic. \u00a0 It’s Ms. Baxter’s contention that it is, indeed, the church’s responsibility to help the poor. \u00a0 And MHC is, indeed, \u00a0trying to do it’s part. \u00a0 Last year there were approximately 5,000 patient visits for people below the poverty line who have no health care insurance. \u00a0 And the clinic provides a full scope of services from dental, to cardiology, to gynecology, to physical therapy, to vision, to neurology, to general surgery, to orthopedics… \u00a0 In fact, one of the most poignant (and inherently tragic) health care stories was of a local woman who had a severe, compound leg fracture. \u00a0 MHC Director Tracy Thompson told me the woman had no health care insurance and couldn’t, in any way, afford the $3,600 she’d need to put up front for an orthopedic \u00a0doctor. \u00a0 She \u00a0excrutiatingly limped around on this badly broken \u00a0leg for 10 days, finally connecting with MHC in desperation, and tears. \u00a0 “I prayed with her on the phone,” said Ms. Baxter, who then arranged for her to come in. \u00a0 MHC’s orthopedic doctor assessed the extent of the injury, then helped set in motion a series of things that would allow her to get surgery at Athens \u00a0Regional Hospital, for free… \u00a0 Ms. Thompson gave me a fact sheet on MHC. \u00a0 It noted MHC has served over 2,950 patients since 2001. \u00a0 In 2009 alone, approximately 12,562 hours were donated to the clinic. \u00a0 The majority of MHC patients are “working poor.” \u00a0 Approximately 35% of MHC’s clients are Hispanic… \u00a0 Ms. Baxter also explained the medical help is intertwined with spiritual help here. \u00a0 That is after each medical visit, patients are given the option of going to another part of the complex where members of “prayer teams” talk and pray about an individual’s concerns, etc. \u00a0 An holistic approach that is so much the essence of the ethos of the clinic. \u00a0 Note:<\/strong> \u00a0 MHC also has a pharmacy stocked with things like doctor free samples and financed, in part, by a $2,000 a month stipend from Athens \u00a0Regional Hospital. \u00a0 Among it’s programs are: \u00a0 “Mercy on the Road” (in partnership with St. Mary’s Hospital). \u00a0 Mercy volunteers take a “medical bus” around the countyr to screen blood pressure, blood sugar levels and provide medical resource information… \u00a0 \u00a0 “Lay Health Promotion Program.” \u00a0 This is a programt hat trains people from at-risk communities to become health advocates in those communities. \u00a0 A 40-hour course trains people in detecting high blood pressure, breast cancer and diabetes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More on Jubilee partners in following entries… \u00a0 I’m fast forwarding to our next stop in Athens, Georgia, today, and a tremendously refreshing and innovative \u00a0“free clinic.” \u00a0 While the health care debate \u00a0grinds on in D.C., a solution — …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/993\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}