Houston Health Department offers prenatal care to uninsured

Nigerian immigrants Rasa and Comfort Salami are expecting their first child since coming to the United States eight years ago.

They don’t have insurance, and they speak very little English.

Unsure where to receive prenatal care, Rasa Salami turned to his friends for guidance.

“I talked to all my friends, and they told me to come to the health department,” Salami said.

Last month, the Houston County Health Department began partnering with Houston County Healthcare and Women’s Healthcare of Georgia to offer affordable prenatal care to mothers and couples like the Salamis.

“The hospitals started approaching us saying ‘we are having women deliver with no prenatal care. This is a problem. Is there anything public health can do about it?’” said Chris Sikes, nurse manager for the Houston County Health Department.

Prenatal care is offered locally, but for uninsured, low-income patients, fees and upfront costs can be overwhelming, Sikes said.

She sought out a way to bridge the gap and started a clinic that serves couples like the Salamis who would not be able to receive prenatal care otherwise.

Sikes alongside Dr. Eva Martin, a translator who also acts as case manager, and a team of nurses began seeing patients at the end of May. So far, the clinic has served a handful of patients.

Martin, an OB-GYN, sees patients for the first seven to eight months of the pregnancy. Then, care is transitioned to another OB-GYN from Women’s Healthcare of Georgia who treats patients up until delivery and in the days after birth.

Diva Bourlakas, the translator and case manager, serves as the first point of contact for patients.

Bourlakas ushers patients through the intake process and answers their questions.

Having a translator allows patients to “speak in their native language” instead of having to pay for a translator to come with them, eliminating one “big barrier” to care, Bourlakas said.

Because Bourlakas has worked in the health department for 11 years, many of the patients are familiar to her from other programs.

Patients like to see a “familiar face” and someone that they can communicate with, Bourlakas said.

The clinic accepts new patients on the first and third Thursdays of every month by appointment, Sikes said.

One of the jobs of public health is to look around the community and plug holes where extra services are needed for health care, she said.

“It is a really neat way where the patients can get consistent, culturally competent, affordable quality health care, and it involves a lot of community partners,” Sikes said.

This story was originally published June 3, 2016 at 1:52 PM with the headline "Houston Health Department offers prenatal care to uninsured."