News

July 28, 2008

Health clinic use rises

With economy down, free-service site busy

JOE KORBA editintern@timesleader.com

The ailing economy has impacted the Wilkes-Barre Free Clinic, which has seen an increased number of people coming in this summer to use its health-care services.

. “We’re seeing an average of 35 patients a night up from about 25 patients last summer,” said Lois Myers, the clinic’s coordinator.

“People lack insurance, the economy is bad. Some people do have insurance, but they can’t afford medication, we can sometimes help them. We get patients who don’t want to go to the emergency room because they can’t afford the bill.”

On a recent Tuesday night the clinic’s waiting room in the basement of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church was jammed with approximately 35 patients waiting to see the doctor or a nurse.

“The first couple of months we did this, we sat around wondering why we were here. Now, sometimes the mass of people showing up at the clinic is frightening,” said longtime volunteer Dr. Gerald Maloney. “We see a lot of patients every week. The clinic could be open a second night if we had help.”

Maloney volunteered at the clinic, now in its sixth year, when it operated out of the Good Shepherd Center on East South Street. It moved to its current location in November.

The dwindling economy has been hitting the working poor particularly hard. According to Rx for PA, the statewide health-care initiative by Governor Rendell, there are more than 900,000 uninsured people in Pennsylvania, with more than 35,000 uninsured in Luzerne County. Three out of four people who are uninsured in Pennsylvania are employed, according to the Web site.

The clinic is understaffed to handle the surge in patients but never turns anyone away, according to Myers.

“We need nurse practitioners, physicians, physician’s assistants and laypeople for jobs like receptionists,” she said. “We could use more volunteer physicians; we have four and can use two more. It would make all of their rotations easier.”

Diane Mucha, who works full time at a surgery center and volunteers at the clinic twice a month, finds working there to be rewarding.

“I just like to give back to the community,” she said.

If you’d like to volunteer, you can reach the Wilkes-Barre Free Clinic at 793-4361. The clinic is located in the basement of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church at 35 S. Franklin St. in Wilkes-Barre. The clinic is open from 5 to 7 Tuesday nights.

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