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Access
Now
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2201 West Broad Street, Suite 205
Richmond, Virginia 23220
(804) 622-8145
8:00AM-5:00PM
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Dear Friend of Access Now,
Welcome to our first edition of The
Patient's Navigator, the newsletter for Access Now. I
want to let all of our volunteers, friends, physicians and
their staffs, as well as our hospital systems, visiting nurses, and
suppliers of durable medical supplies, know how much we appreciate
your gifts of time, talent, and financial support.
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Dr. Thomas
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Despite your help, however, the need for medical care in
the population that we serve remains great. More
physician volunteers are needed, particularly in specialties which
include endocrinology, nephrology, neurology and
oral surgery.
This spring, two of our patient care coordinators, our
program director, and I fielded a flood of 150 calls during 90
minutes on the "Call 12" segment at WWBT 12, NBC in Richmond.
The calls came from people in our
area who have been unable to find affordable medical care. Despite the
passage of the national health care bill, many people still do not have
access to care, and will not have access to care even after most of the
healthcare legislation goes into effect in 2014.
Our mission remains to provide access to specialty medical
care to those who have no medical insurance and whose household income
is at, or below, 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. We
ask that these patients have a primary care medical home from which the
requests for specialty medical care are made.
We are grateful for our
partnership with the region's free clinics,
federally-qualified clinics, and health departments that help to
provide the primary care medical homes for these patients. The typical
patient in the Access Now program is a mother who has one or more
low-paying jobs without the benefit of health insurance. These
patients do not qualify for Medicaid or Medicare.
All of us are working together to provide specialty
medical care to these patients. I frequently describe Access Now
as a free clinic without walls. The
"walls" are provided through the generous support of many of
you who have donated your time and resources to this joint effort.
The health of these patients is important to our community. I
firmly believe that a healthy workforce is a productive workforce and
that the health of all the members of a community is important for the
health of the entire community.
Help us share the care for these patients by recruiting
your colleagues to join us in this endeavor. Feel
free to forward them The Patient's Navigator to
spread the word. As a community, if we help our neighbors, we will
all accrue the benefits.
Chair, Access Now Board of Directors
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Everyday "Miracles"
Physician
Volunteers Create Ripple Effect of Care
Elizabeth Oloo is a bright, engaging native of Kenya
who's studying for a business degree while living with her aunt in
western Henrico County. More than a year ago, her studies ground
to a halt when she noticed a lump on her breast.
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Oloo
at home in Henrico
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"I looked for somewhere to go because I didn't
have insurance," says Oloo, 43.
A family member directed her to CrossOver Ministry,
where a doctor asked her when she'd first felt something was wrong.
She'd never been trained to examine herself and thought it wasn't
serious.
But after a mammogram and
biopsy at Bon Secours St. Mary's Hospital, she got the bad news.
"The doctor said I had cancer," Oloo recalls. Making matters
worse, she had no health insurance. As soon as she heard the
diagnosis, she kept asking herself and her aunt, "What shall we
do?"
Then, Oloo says, "I was
called by Access Now. They screened me and asked some questions. Then
they called back and said we're sending you a card that will help you
with medical attention from the doctors we assign."
Oloo couldn't believe her ears.
She was even more astounded to read on her newly-issued card that she
wouldn't have to pay a cent for the care she was getting from the
physician volunteers of Access Now. "I was amazed!"
Then, "When I was told I
could see the doctors, and didn't have to pay anything, I thought it
was a miracle," she says in an interview at her aunt's
apartment. "I cried, and I called my family members."
She praised the care delivered by Dr. James V. Pellicane at the
Virginia Breast Center and St. Francis Hospital; Dr. Judy Chin at
Radiation Oncology Associates, a division of Virginia Urology; and Dr.
Joseph Evers at the Virginia Cancer Institute.
As Access Now approaches the
end of its third year of providing free specialty health care to
thousands of uninsured, indigent people in the Richmond area, such
life-changing stories serve to motivate the program's growing physician
referral network of more than 900 doctors. The physician volunteers
agree to provide care at no cost and with no financial
remuneration, such as tax write-offs or other compensation.
Last year, Access Now saw a 40
percent increase in the number of patients who received specialty care
- with more than 2,000 people expected to be treated in 2010. The
physicians performed more than $4.3 million worth of clinical services.
And since 2008, Access Now's volunteer caregivers have provided medical
services valued at more than $6.5 million, treating nearly 4,000
people.
The program has received
widespread publicity, from National Public Radio, which provided an
in-depth interview with Program Manager Marilyn Nicol.
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Program Manager Marilyn Nicol
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The report by
WCVE-Richmond's special correspondent John Ogle noted the growing
need for Access Now due to the lingering effects of the recession.
The Richmond
Times-Dispatch editorial page lauded Access Now in May, commenting
that, even with national healthcare reform, "There will always be
people in need. Access Now ensures that those individuals will be
treated with the tenderness that is humanity's birthright."
Matthew Scott, a managing
director in private wealth management with SunTrust Banks and chairman
of Access Now's Strategic Planning Committee, was featured in a Times-Dispatch column
on May 30. "Hope is a gift that never deserts us," Scott
wrote, "but those with life-threatening medical problems need more
than hope."
Every day, Access Now's
physician volunteers witness the deep impact the program has on people
with life-threatening or debilitating medical conditions. The program
"provides an avenue for people to see us in the office before
their situations are dire," says Dr. Shelton Thomas, of Virginia
Cardiovascular Specialists. "We can see them in the office rather
than in extremis in an emergency
room at 3 a.m."
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Dr. Shelton Thomas
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He praised the work of the
program's three referral coordinators - Jenée Johnson, Kate
Schmuttenmaer, and Leslie Gibson.
"I'm very proud of the
fact that I don't know who [the Access Now patients] are. My diagnostic
and my therapeutic interventions have been the same for the Access Now
patients as they are for the patients with the best insurance plans. To
me, they deserved the best treatments."
Dr. Anthony Shaia, of West End
Orthopaedic Clinic, says Access Now is a vast improvement on the old
way of trying to help patients in need of specialty care. When a
patient was referred from a free clinic, he says, "It could take a
day calling around on the phone. There was no organizational structure.
There was no system."
In addition to needing a
physician's care, more often than not patients needed home health care,
physical therapy, and pharmaceutical services. "They weren't connected,"
Shaia says. "Now it's really like a health plan."
Today, Access Now's staff gives
healthcare providers a complete medical summary of each patient's
clinical tests and results; a copy of financial screening
documentation; assistance if patients need referrals to other
specialists or hospitals; an annual record of each doctor's charity
care services; and medical malpractice coverage through Virginia's
Department of Risk Management.
Shaia also has noticed a more
personal side of Access Now, and how it provides patients a much-needed
sense of empowerment. He remembers a woman with a bad case of arthritis
who needed both hips replaced. But she couldn't afford health
insurance. Yet, even after Shaia offered to perform the surgery at no
charge, she declined the offer.
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Dr. Shaia
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"She never came back. I
didn't see her for years." When she did return, the woman's
arthritis had worsened, but her entire mood had changed. For some
reason, she was willing to consider hip replacement surgery.
Puzzled, Shaia finally realized
what had made the difference. "She said, 'I have insurance. I have
Access Now." The orthopedic surgeon observes, "She didn't
really have insurance, but she felt like she did. With Access
Now, she had both hips replaced. For her, somehow, it was more
acceptable, as opposed to taking free treatment."
Shaia credits the program for
providing a support system that takes the pressure off physicians and
patients alike. When it comes to discussing financial and personal
circumstances, "it's very hard to get into that with patients."
He expects to see more doctors
sign up as volunteers as word continues to spread. "The doctors who
haven't signed up probably aren't aware of it," he says.
Dr. David Cross, of P&A
Associates, ENT in Mechanicsville, explained his support of the program
recently to one patient: "It allows me to do the work I love to do
without having to travel to Mozambique."
As national health reforms take
years to put in place - and as joblessness and downsizings cut into
health benefits - Access Now's mission remains clear. Even as the
number of people enrolled continues to climb, it's the impact on
each individual life that has a ripple effect across the region.
Peggy Haun was running a child
care center from her home in Henrico County when her husband became
disabled - losing health insurance for both in 2003. "That's when
I started having health problems," Haun recalls.
She was referred to Virginia
Urology. But before she made that appointment, she was racked by
intense back pain and, later, had parathyroid problems. Access Now
physicians took care of her along the way - until she finally had
surgery with Dr. David E. Rapp at Virginia Urology.
Today she wears a device that
helps her urinary problem. "I have a wire on me," Haun says
with a laugh. "I'm basically in awe of this whole thing," she
says of her Access Now care. "I'm in the process of writing a
thank you letter... The doctors treat you so special."
Yet, she admits, "I feel
guilty I can't pay for this. I've always worked... I ran a day care
business in my home and took care of babies, but when I had this back
problem, I was unable to lift babies. Therefore I had to give that
up."
Caught in a seemingly endless
cycle of poor health, lack of insurance, and employment issues, Haun
says, "They give you that feeling you have somewhere to go... I
don't know how I can ever repay them."
Otis Pierce, 58, learned he had
precancerous polyps during a health screening with Dr. Vivian
Bruzzese at CrossOver. He was feeling "drained" and
"sluggish" and had to stop working as a driver for a
transportation provider that takes patients to doctors' appointments.
But after having his polyps
removed by an Access Now specialist, he says, "I'm a strong man.
I've been feeling like I hope to keep going."
Elizabeth Oloo knows the
feeling. "If it weren't for Access Now," she says, "you
could die thinking you're sick, and there's no way I could treat myself.
I'm telling you, Access Now gave me another chance to live!"
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Stirring Dreams
Chef Credits Access Now for Keeping Her In Business
Carly Herring was working in a
Richmond restaurant with a dream of starting her own business when
rheumatoid arthritis nearly derailed her plans.
Herring, 26, had a long history
of celiac disease, a lifelong digestive disorder. Less than two years
ago, she suffered an allergic reaction to gluten - the proteins found
in wheat and related grains.
 Though she was used to dealing
with the digestive disorder, something was different - the joints of
her hands and legs were swelling, and one ankle was the size of a
grapefruit.
"I had no idea what it
was," she recalled recently. She was working her way through J.
Sargeant Reynolds Community College and didn't want to lose a
restaurant job.
"The nature of the
restaurant industry is that most people don't have the option of health
insurance," she says. Her spirit was willing, but her joints were
weak. "It got to the point where I couldn't go up and down
stairs."
Herring visited the Fan Free Clinic,
where a doctor said her swollen ankle might be broken. Since she
couldn't afford to get X rays, the clinic put her in touch with
Access Now, where she qualified for coverage.
Looking back, Herring sees this as a defining moment in
her life, one that saved her from great pain, and quite possibly, from
becoming permanently disabled. Access Now allowed her to follow
her dream to open a restaurant, she says. Herring's experience
illustrates how the program helps people stay healthy and keep their
jobs. This, in turn, helps lift up the overall quality of life in
Central Virginia.
Herring was referred to Dr. James Sutherland, at Arthritis
Specialists, who immediately "got me on track with medication and
came up with an attack plan" to treat her arthritis. Within a
week, she stopped limping and was able to move on with her busy life.
Before long, she was able to open a restaurant - The
Empress at 2043 West Broad Street, across from Pleasants Hardware -
with her partner, Melissa Barlow. She still can't afford health
insurance, but someday, she says, "I'm really looking forward to
helping the charities that have helped me. My quality of life was
[poor]. I was in excruciating pain. I couldn't stand up or sit down without
help." She shrugs. "At 25, my life would have been
over."
Left untreated, her arthritis would have prevented her
from holding a knife, standing up, and working as a chef. "I
wouldn't have been able to do what I love."
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HCA's Lewis Praises
Physician Volunteers
In responding to vulnerable
people who need specialty care but lack health insurance, our physician
community has helped make Access Now a true success story. But
their generosity alone won't ensure the program's future.
 As the state's most
comprehensive patient care network - providing $100 million annually in
charity care - HCA Virginia has been proud
to support the Richmond Academy of Medicine
in its management of Access Now, and we salute the physicians who do
likewise by giving so willingly of their time and talents.
It seems almost certain that universal health insurance coverage will
remain an elusive goal. Working together, RAM, physicians and
health systems can and must ensure that uninsured patients receive the
specialty care they need and deserve.
Margaret Lewis
President, HCA Capital Division
Senior Executive, HCA Virginia
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Bon Secours' Bernard Lauds Partnership
Caring for our vulnerable and underserved neighbors
has always been at the core of the mission of Bon
Secours, so partnering with Access Now is a natural fit
for us. We have been supporters of Access Now since its inception
both financially and through in-kind services such as the provision of
radiology and acute care services. Our partnership has helped
many, many people receive the highest quality of medical services.
 Focusing on our Bon Secours
Care-A-Vans, free and federally-qualified health clinics, we look
forward to deepening our partnership with Access Now in the years
ahead.
There is so much need in our communities and Access
Now is a wonderful example of how we can come together for the good of
patients across our region.
Together, Bon Secours and Access Now can strengthen
our community's safety net for those most in need.
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THANKS!
The Board of Directors and
staff of Access Now wish to offer their sincere thanks
for the tireless work, generous donations and unswerving dedication of
our volunteer physicians, donors and health care partners,
including:
Virginia
Cardiovascular Specialists, P.C.
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We Want
to Hear from You!
We hope you enjoy
our first edition of The Patient's Navigator. If
you have any comments or ideas for more stories, please call or email
Chip Jones, Communications and Marketing Director of the Richmond
Academy of Medicine and Access Now: (804) 622-8136
or cjones@ramdocs.org
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