ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY (WSLS) - Finding affordable health care can be a challenge with or without insurance. In Rockbridge County, a collaboration of 30 different community groups, including Augusta Health, Carilion Stonewall Jackson Hospital and the Virginia Department of Health have found a solution that appears to be working.
Jane Wells and her husband wouldn't have adequate health care if it wasn't for the Rockbridge Area Health Center, which used to be a free clinic. As a free clinic they wouldn't have been eligible for services. When the facility became a health center it started offering services to anyone in the community on a sliding scale.
Wells said, "We went to a doctor we had always been to and he was very frank with us and letting us know we cant afford to go to him to be monitored for my husband's diabetes. That is upsetting and it is scary."
Rockbridge Community Health Center, CEO Suzanne Sheridan is part of the change that is taking the fear out of finding treatment for patients like Jane and Josh McMichael. McMichael explains, "I had no insurance. When I came here I found a home."
Sheridan said, "This is all about improving access to health care services. We have a full time doctor, we have a full time dentist, we are in the process of incorporating behavioral health services."
November 13 will mark the one year anniversary. Over the last ten months there have been a lot of renovations at the facility. There is a new medical lab and the exam rooms have expanded from four to eight. There is also an emphasis on tracking quality outcomes for patients. A baseline for care is being developed this year and will be compared to numbers from next year. The staff has expanded from 13 people to 24.
The former free clinic was able to become a health center through a grant. The expansion is allowing leaders to follow through with addressing health needs in the community based on and assessment that was done to identify gaps in health care in the Rockbridge area.