community


clinic benefits from


Local health


Recovery Act funds


By Patrick Keating CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER


Since 1972, the National


Health Service Corps (NHSC) has helped thousands of health professionals practice in communities where they are most needed without needing to worry about their student loans. It offers both loan re- payments and scholarships.


Last year, the American Re-


covery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 allocated $300 million to the NHSC.


Rebecca Spitzgo, director


of the NHSC, said the organi- zation’s mission is to get cli- nicians to under-served areas, where they often have great difficulties in recruiting. Some are very rural areas, others are urban areas considered less than desirable places to be in. She also said that sometimes salaries in certain under- served areas are not competi- tive either.


In exchange for the NHSC


offering loan repayments and scholarships, the doctors who take advantage of them agree to work at a NHSC site, which must be in a designated health shortage area.


According to Spitzgo, the


increased funding has allowed the NHSC to be able to put more providers in the same areas.


“There’s always been much


more need than the dollars the programs have received to have been able to fulfill,” she said.


One local health center


that has benefited from these funds is the Thea Bowman Community Health Center, lo- cated at the corner of Five Mile


Dr. Neesha Berry


and Patton. “In general, as far as the


Bowman Community Health Center is concerned, we rely on the money to be put into our center, because it allows us to take patients without insurance,” Dr. Neesha Berry, assistant medical director, said. “Without the money being available for our center, it would be difficult for patients to be seen by physicians.”


Berry has been with the


Bowman Center for three years. She graduated from medical school in 2002 and completed her residency in 2006. Thanks to the NHSC, the close to $200,000 in loans she took out when she went to medical school have been whit- tled down to about $50,000.


She said the Bowman Com-


munity Health Center is in a physician shortage area, which means there aren’t enough primary care physi- cians taking care of patients in that geographic area.


“The second issue is that


now that we’re here and we have a center that’s open, pa- tients have to be able to come in to the physician,” she said. “There used to be such thing as a free clinic where you could come and see a doctor, and get help, and you would not have to pay anything.


“Now, most places cannot


function under those circum- stances, so with the Reinvest- ment Act, we’re able to get grant money at our centers, so that we can see patients who do not have insurance for a very low, minimal cost.”


Patients pay on a sliding


scale, with $20 at the low end. “Some patients may pay


Rebecca Spitzgo


a little bit more,” Berry said. “We see some patients who are homeless. We see patients who work or are self-employed. We see patients who are insured. I see doctors. I see lawyers. I had a congressman who came to our clinic who I take care of here. I see a wide range of pa- tients, so it depends on your salary.”


She said some of the pa-


tients who come to the clinic own their own businesses, but do not have insurance.


She also said the Bowman


Center provides board certi- fied clinicians and nurse prac- titioners. The clinic also has access to specialists and den- tists.


“We have so many differ-


ent things available here for patients,” Berry said, adding that if someone needs to go to the hospital for a chest X-ray or MRI, they can do so.


People cannot go anywhere


else and get that done without insurance, but because of the Reinvestment Act, they can at Bowman.


She also believes Bowman’s


location — across from a post office and right on a bus line — is one reason patients with insurance choose to come there. Another is because it provides good care.


“I take care of patients who


stay right down the street,” she said. “I can walk down to the post office and I may see one of my patients there.”


She can also run into a pa-


tient when she goes down the street to pick up something to eat.


The National Health Service


Corps started because of a concern that with a lot of doc-


tors retiring, the rural areas were losing clinicians and pro- viders at a record pace in the 1960s, according to Spitzgo.


“So health care was not


readily available,” she said, adding that not only were more providers moving to urban areas with more ameni- ties, but fewer were choosing to go into primary care.


She also said the NHSC


started out as a scholarship program. The loan repay- ment aspect was added in the 1980s.


Born in Lansing, Berry has


always wanted to live in De- troit. To her, Detroit was “the” city. Plus her family was here.


She also noted that work-


ing at the Bowman Center was the perfect opportunity to work with one of her mentors and to be exposed to different medical conditions.


She had started in emer-


gency medicine but found in- ternal medicine was more to her liking.


“You have to do what’s the


right fit,” she said. “You can’t go with what’s prestigious or what may pay more money.”


Her first day of orientation


at Bowman, she saw 20 pa- tients.


“There’s a need there, and


you get so much appreciation from your patients, so much love from your patients,” she said.


She feels blessed to have joined a program like this.


THE MICHIGAN CHRONICLE


November 24-30, 2010


Page D-3


Michigan Department of Human Services aims to


increase access to healthy food all month long


By Barbara Anders The Michigan Department


of Human Services has made it a priority to increase access to fresh and healthy foods, espe- cially for children, low-income families and at-risk seniors.


That is why DHS partnered


with the Associated Food and Petroleum Dealers to gradu- ally shift the date when most food assistance clients receive their benefits.


Right now, the estimated


1.9 million food assistance cli- ents in Michigan spend their benefits as soon as they re- ceive them in the beginning of the month. Starting in Janu- ary, food assistance clients will receive their benefits one day later each month, depend- ing on the last digit of the re- cipient identification number.


For example, a client whose


recipient ID number ends in 4 will receive food assistance benefits on Jan. 7, Feb. 8, March 9, April 10 and on the eleventh day of each month starting in May.


This gradual change will


improve access to fresh foods, making it easier for people who rely on food assistance to make healthy food choices.


It will also minimize the


rush of customers that gro- cers and farmers markets have at the beginning of the month, allowing them better opportu- nities to maintain their inven- tories of fresh food and appro- priate staff all month long.


Michigan’s groceries and


farmers markets are critical partners in the Food Assis- tance Program.


Michigan’s food assistance


clients spent more than $2.1 billion in food purchases last year, of which $293,000 went directly to farmers markets. More than 50 farmers mar- kets accept food benefits on a


Barbara Anders


Bridge card. And we know that for every


$5 of food benefits generate about $9.20 in economic activ- ity in communities.


We are working hard to


spread the word about the changes by sending notifica- tion mailings to food assis- tance clients, and providing grocers with posters to place in their stores.


Additionally, we are work-


ing with our community part- ners to make sure people have other options for food. The Food Bank Council of Michi- gan and Gleaners Community Food Bank, for example, have resources available statewide and locally.


Clients may contact the


Food Bank Council of Michi- gan at (800) 552-4483 or fbcm@ fbcmich.org if they need as- sistance with food during this change. For more information about the date change, food assistance clients may also call (877) 390-3327 or visit www.michigan.gov/dhs.


Barbara Anders is the


deputy director of Finan- cial and Quality Services for the Michigan Department of Human Services.


Visit our website for more stories and articles throughout the week!


www.michronicle.com


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