FORT VALLEY — A group of 15 Peach County citizens listened to community health statistics and made plans toward applying for a federally funded health clinic Thursday.
Based on its demographics and health needs, Peach County may qualify to receive funds for a federally qualified health center, which would secure grant money to provide health services for underserved residents, said Glenn Landers, senior research associate with the Georgia Health Policy Center of the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University. The center would also be able to provide drugs at a reduced cost.
That health center would serve the uninsured, as well as those with insurance and Medicaid, said Buzz Tanner, communications consultant with Community Health Works, which organized the event.
Initatives for similar facilities in Houston and Crawford counties are already in place, Tanner said.
While funding could vary, Tanner said a health center could receive about $500,000 in grant money each year.
“I worry a lot about the uninsured,” Tanner said. “It’s a way to take care of the uninsured.”
The process would be set in motion by members of the community, who would have to apply for the funding by September, Landers said.
“This is driven by community. It’s not someone coming in and doing it,” Landers told the group gathered at the Pettigrew Center at Fort Valley State University. “It’s the community doing this for themselves.”
Because Peach County is federally designated as a medically underserved area, which takes into account access to health facilities and the economic makeup of the community, it is eligible to apply for the health center.
About 20 percent of Peach County’s population was uninsured in 2008, a rate higher than state and national levels. While enrollment in programs such as Medicaid and PeachCare helped keep that number down, it does not take the effects of the economic downturn into account.
Also, between 30 and 35 percent of families in the county earned 200 percent below the poverty level in a three-year period average between 2006 and 2008.
Peach County residents also suffer higher rates of cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes compared to the rest of Georgia.
“We as a state aren’t doing well,” Landers said. “We’re fighting an uphill battle as far as that’s concerned.”
Also notable to some of the meeting’s attendees was a substantially higher suicide rate in the county compared to both the state and the U.S. as a whole.
“Sometimes you get depressed about your community with this data, but you’re not unlike any other counties I’ve worked with,” Landers said. “That’s why we’re working through it to go through next step if you choose to.”
Afterward, representatives with the Georgia Health Policy Center will meet with community leaders, as well as provide updated data based on public input at future meetings.
One person that attended the meeting was Linda Early, who is the office manager for her husband Michael Early, a Fort Valley doctor.
“With his being a physician, he renders services to people in Peach County who are uninsured,” Early said. “I like the idea of a community health center with a sliding scale. It would be a great benefit to citizens.”
To contact Andrea Castillo, call 256-9751.
E-Mail
Print
Reprint|license
