Clinics give hope to the uninsured

Tag: medicine machine

For the dozens of people lined up in front of Olivet Baptist Church on Monday, the part-time clinic inside was their only opportunity to see a doctor.

The clinic invited the media as part of Cover the Uninsured Week, which ends Saturday.

About 650,000 Oklahomans are uninsured, according to the state Commerce Department. Oklahoma ranks fifth in the nation for its rate of uninsured residents.

Aguilar owes $3,500 for a hospital stay and needs gall bladder surgery. She must take time off work to visit the Baptist Community Clinic, located on the second floor of the church, 1201 NW 10 St.

She called the two doctors and nurse practitioner at the clinic "a blessing.”

Monica Sollars of Oklahoma City was third in line.

"If you didn't have the clinic ... If you felt lousy, you'd just have to live with lousy,” she said.

As a diabetic, feeling lousy may be the least of Sollars' worries.

Without the clinic, she said she'd have nowhere to go for medication to reduce her blood sugar.

The clinic has a pharmacy and is able to refer patients for X-rays and lab work. Sollars collects Social Security and her husband works for a friend's business. Health insurance is out of the question.


‘They help a lot of people'
There is no charge to be seen at the clinic. It's first-come, first-served. A full-time nurse practitioner from Integris Health works there, and twice a month two medical residents see patients.
On these days, more than 120 people come through the doors.

Oklahoma City resident Gladys Delgado has colitis and has been coming to the clinic for four years. Delgado does not have a job.

"It's definitely worth it to come here,” she said.

Her husband, Isaac, a machine operator, said insurance is too expensive.

"I don't have enough (money) to live, to pay rent, for a car,” he said.

Inside, Elviz Ruiz wrapped up a checkup for a stomach ulcer. The Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City student, who wants to be an accountant, suffered for months before seeing a doctor elsewhere.

When Ruiz couldn't afford $5 a pill for medicine, he came to the church clinic.

Without the clinic, he said, his stomach would still be hurting.

"They help a lot of people. Outside there are people who don't work anymore. They don't have money to see the doctor. Lots of people really need this place,” he said.

Nurse practitioner Susan Ward, who has worked at the clinic for two years, said her patients, many of whom have high blood pressure, diabetes and other chronic conditions, end up seeing her after visiting emergency rooms.

"If you can take care of their problems before they become really severe, you can cut down on the complications,” said the nurse practitioner.