Yet another Free Medical Clinic – Your Stimulus Money at Work

Reported in this morning’s newspaper, is the fact that Federal Stimulus funding will be used to open another medical clinic in Bowling Green. I’m honestly not sure why, when the Caroline Christian Health Center is in need of support as well.

I’m not opposed to such a clinic, but if our tax dollars are going to be used to care for those without insurance; shouldn’t it be shared with existing services?  It seems that Bowling Green has been getting a lot of attention these days.

Stimulus provides new medical clinic

Stimulus money will be used for a new health center in Bowling Green

Date published: 3/9/2009

BY JIM HALL – Free Lance Star

Federal stimulus spending has reached the Fredericksburg area, three weeks after Congress passed the legislation.

The first shipment of funds arrived last week in the form of a two-year, $1.3-million grant from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration.

The money will be used to create a community health center in a now-vacant building that was once a Safeway store on Broaddus Avenue in Bowling Green. Opening is set for July 1.

“We’ll try to move on this very, very quickly. The pressure is on,” said Rod Manifold, executive director of Central Virginia Health Services Inc., the nonprofit agency that received the grant.

Central Virginia operates 13 community health centers in Virginia, including ones in Fredericksburg and Montross.

The Caroline County clinic is one of five in Virginia to be funded by the new stimulus money. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 included $155 million for 126 such clinics nationwide.

Central Virginia first applied for a grant for a Caroline County clinic in 2007. The Health Resources Administration rejected its application then, but told Central Virginia that it would keep its request on file in case funding became available later.

When the stimulus bill passed, the agency went back through its files to find applications that had qualifying scores on its ratings system, Manifold said.

The project appears to meet two of President Obama’s goal for the stimulus program: to quickly boost the sagging economy and to expand access to health care.

In this case, an 8,000-square-foot shell with cinder-block walls and concrete floor will be converted to a medical office for a primary care physician and staff.

Manifold said he was scheduled to meet with an architect Friday to design the interior. He said he will seek construction bids soon after.

“They’ll have to show they can bring people in to start working right away,” he said.

Central Virginia’s clinic in Fredericksburg–the Community Health Center of the Rappahannock Region–offers a preview of what the Bowling Green clinic will be like.

The Fredericksburg clinic is open to everyone, adults and children, but is aimed at those who have no insurance or can’t afford medical care.

Nearly three-fourths of its patients are uninsured, and more than half have annual incomes below the federal poverty line, said Sheena Mackenzie, development director for Central Virginia.

Patients pay on a sliding scale, based on income and family size. Those with government-sponsored health plans, such as Medicaid, Medicare and FAMIS, are welcome.

Dr. Donald Bley, a family practitioner, is the medical director. He and his staff opened the clinic in December 2007.

The clinic has been unusually busy for the last two months, averaging 359 patient visits per month.

The reasons, Manifold said, are the growing numbers of uninsured people and the recent move to a bigger office on Princess Anne Street.

“We’re getting slammed,” Manifold said. “We’re seeing just about all that Dr. Bley can see right now.”

Jim Hall: 540/374-5433
Email: jhall@freelancestar.com

CARE FOR THE POOR When the new health center opens in Bowling Green, it will be the seventh in the region to offer medical care to the poor and/or uninsured. The others are: CAROLINE CHRISTIAN HEALTH CENTER: (804/448-1380) Pediatric care. All insurances accepted. Payments based on sliding scale. COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER OF THE RAPPAHANNOCK REGION: (540/735-0560) All ages. All insurances accepted. Payments based on sliding scale.

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