West Virginia

http://web.bus52.com/profiles/west-virginia-health-right/ "We have some of the worst health status statistics in the nation. We're number one in the incidence of diabetes, we're number two obesity, we're number one heart disease and stroke." The health crisis in West Virginia is something that cannot be ignored and with an ever-growing number of people who have no health insurance, and as resources become more and more strained. In Charleston, West Virginia, however, West Virginia Health Right, has been serving the community since 1982 and has been changing people's lives. Executive Director, Pat White, explains that WV Health Right is a free clinic that is "the community's response to the uninsured poor." "We serve the uninsured working poor," White explains, "and those are folks that are basically at 200% of the federal poverty level or below, which is around $28,000 for a family of four so it's a pretty low threshold." Serving a 35-county area in West Virginia, WV Health Right serves the working population where "83% have a job that's normally part time or clearly does not provide health insurance benefits." The WV Health Right patients are sometimes working multiple jobs, all at minimum wage, and often put off seeking the health care they need because of the cost and their lack of insurance. "So when they come to us, they may have swollen feet, which is indicative of kidney problems, and so they may be in kidney failure," says White. The delay in their seeking health care only serves to give their health issues time to worsen. In order to provide the community with the free health care they desperately need, WV Health Right goes beyond providing basic medical care. "We're able to provide so much. We have every specialty covered except for OB but we don't do OB here. We do not birth babies at this clinic, but every other specialty is offered here for patients," says White. By partnering with local hospitals, the Medical Association, and the Dental Association, WV Health Right ensures that it can get their patients to the best care possible. Remarkably, the work done by WV Health Right is made possible almost entirely by a collection of dedicated volunteers. "I've got a staff of 38 but there's no doctors that are paid, there's no dentists that are paid, the ophthalmologists that run our eye clinic, they're not paid. So they all are volunteers," explains White. Read More... http://web.bus52.com/profiles/west-virginia-health-right/

• published: 19 Nov 2012
• views: 490