NOVEMBER 12, 2009 ISSUE
Free Clinic in Linville Much Appreciated by Farmworkers
Editor’s Note: Many of the comments in this story have been translated from Spanish.
Dr. David Yale discusses proper dosage of a medication with Ramón Hernandez, with Farmworker Health Program Director Allison Lipscomb translating. Photo by Corinne Saunders
It’s a regular Wednesday night in the Grandfather Specialty Clinic at the Sloop Medical Plaza in Linville. From 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. each Wednesday, about 10 to 12 uninsured patients come in to receive care, said Dr. David Yale, who has volunteered his time with the clinic once a month for the past two years.
Patients pay $10 each visit, which covers medical supplies, but the actual space is donated, and the doctor on duty, interpreter and front desk receptionist are all volunteers, said Allison Lipscomb, Farmworker Health Program director.
“Chelly and I come here as part of our paid position,” Lipscomb said, adding that they take care of administration duties for the time the clinic is open.
Sergio Luna volunteers at the clinic as a translator and his wife Sandra Luna volunteers as a receptionist, answering patients’ questions about the documents, she said.
The couple has lived in Boone for two years—before that, they were in Mexico, Sandra Luna said.
Her husband came into the clinic one time as a patient and now they both volunteer out of a passion to help others, she added.
“It’s a program that helps and contributes much to the Hispanic beneficiaries,” she said. “I like to collaborate with social help.”
Rosa Benfield, FNP, started the free clinic about six to seven years ago, and Dr. Bill Herring is the medical director now, Lipscomb said, adding that four doctors volunteer their time to see patients at the clinic.
“I used to run a free clinic when I was in school in Chapel Hill,” said Yale, who works down the hall in Charles E. Baker’s clinic during the day. “It’s just part of being a doctor. I’ve always liked [working in a free clinic].
“There [are] a lot of people who don’t have insurance,” Yale continued. “You just do what you can for people. A lot of these folks couldn’t see a doctor otherwise. [Care is] definitely inadequate but you do what you can.”
Over the course of any given week, the clinic space is also used for pediatrics, oncologists and a heart doctor, and a chart on the door to the front desk lists the times and days of each.
On Wednesday nights, the clinic typically utilizes three rooms, said Chelly Richards, an outreach worker with the Farmworker Health Program.
Drug companies donate some medicines to the clinic, but she and Lipscomb purchase some antibiotics, Richards said, adding that they also keep a supply of insulin, basic urine tests, H. pylori tests and strep tests onhand.
The clinic is one way in which the Farmworker Health Program links farmworkers with services available locally, although sometimes farmworkers who have lived in the area for a while already know about the clinic, and Lipscomb actually meets them through the clinic, she said.
Farmworkers are issued blue folders while other patients’ records are kept in red folders. The color code makes it easier to keep track of the encounter forms for farmworkers who frequent the clinic for grant purposes, Lipscomb said.
The Boone office of the North Carolina Farmworker Health Program (NCFHP), located at 215 Doctors Drive, opened in 2005 and operates an outreach program that helps more than 400 farmworkers each year in Avery, Caldwell and Watauga counties.
Lipscomb and Richards create a relationship with the farmworkers to let them know they can go to the doctor, and they build relationships with the providers to accept the form of payment available, Lipscomb said, adding that the N.C. Migrant Fee-for-Service Funds pays for some appointments for some workers.
What the Clients Think
Ramón Hernandez, a patient with high blood pressure, said he comes to the clinic once every two months for medicine.
Hernandez, for the past 12 years, has worked in Newland in the Christmas tree industry for nine months of the year and returns to Mexico for the three-month-long offseason, when he works in corn.
Hernandez never goes to a doctor in Mexico, he said.
He found out about the clinic five years ago when Lipscomb came to where he lives with other Christmas tree workers, he said.
“They’re good people and good friends,” Hernandez said of Lipscomb and Richards, adding that if he can’t catch a ride to the clinic with a friend, Lipscomb will provide transportation.
He could not receive services at other doctors’ offices in the area because of the language barrier, he said.
“I hope [the clinic] lasts many years, if not for me, for other people that need the services,” Hernandez said.
Maximiano Gonzalez, who lives in Jonas Ridge, works in Newland—formerly in the Christmas tree industry but now mostly in landscaping dealing with trees, he said.
Gonzalez, who has worked regularly in the U.S. for almost 20 years, spent seven years working in apple orchards in Illinois, and there was a similar clinic there, he said. Gonzalez comes to the clinic when he feels bad—a total of three or four times in the 12 years that he has been married and resided in the High Country, he said.
“It’s good,” he said of the clinic. “It’s very helpful for the people, especially those that don’t have much money.”
If the clinic did not exist, he said, people would have to pay a doctor and would have to make and appointment and wait, possibly for days.
“Here, when [patients] feel bad, they attend them,” Gonzalez said.
Joaquina Sánchez, who has lived in Newland for seven years, started coming to the clinic because of kidney problems, she said.
“The cost would be very high if I went to a specialist,” she said.
Sánchez moved to the area because her husband, whom she met in Mexico, had worked in Christmas trees for about 19 years. He returned to Mexico every year, after the nine-month tree season would end, and, after several years of being married and growing tired of the long separations, Sánchez moved to Newland because that is where he is most of the year, she said.
Jose Luis Velazquez has worked in Christmas trees for nine years, and his wife Rocio Velazquez and their two children have lived here for four years.
“I come and go to Mexico to renew my work visa each year,” he said.
The couple found out about the clinic about three years ago from Lipscomb, they said, and Jose Luiz Velazquez added that he hopes “that it continues on because it is necessary to have a place like this to help the people.”
Lipscomb and Richards “are good people, very helpful [and they] provide a lot of help for the Hispanic people,” he said.
For more information about the North Carolina Farmworker Health Program, click to www.ncfhp.org.
For more information about the local program, click to www.highcountrypress.com and click to the October 1 story titled “Caring for the Underrepresented.”
Community Interest
News & Notes
Events
Arts & Entertainment
