Published: October 31, 2009 04:30 pm         

Filling the cracks: Community clinic serves medical needy

Sheri Michael fell through the cracks.

She did not have young children in the home, she was not elderly and she did not have insurance.

For years she fought high blood pressure and cholesterol and suffered from stomach problems.

“I pretty much thought that was the way it was,” she said.

Then she heard about Enid Community Clinic, a nonprofit agency that would provide her with regular health care and a way to obtain medicine.

“If it weren’t for the clinic, I probably wouldn’t get the medicine I need or the proper diagnosis.”

She feels better these days, both physically and mentally, without the worry of a health care chain around her neck.

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A few chairs down in the clinic sits a man who has suffered depression for years.

Once a truck driver, then a worker at a local tire shop, he found himself out of work when he got hurt. Then the depression set in, and even though he is seeking treatment, it is hard to get up sometimes and face the world.

He’s been coming to the clinic for about a year and a half.

“This is the only way I can see a doctor and get the services I need,” said the 54-year-old, who did not want to give his name.

If he didn’t have the clinic, he said, he would do without, because he can’t afford regular doctor visits.

“I’ve been trying to get disability started. What little penny-ante jobs I do doesn’t pay too much, he said.

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Angela Thomas is grateful she can obtain medication once a week through the clinic that sits at 1106 E. Broadway.

She was laid off of her job about 18 months ago, and while she receives health care for her children through the state, she does not qualify, herself, a reality for many of clinic patients, said Janet Cordell, nurse coordinator for the clinic.

Now, Thomas said, she relies on the clinic for her medications, but she said it is nice to know it is here in case she needs more care.

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Julianne Stubbs learned about the clinic just after she moved to Enid.

“My grandmother told me,” she said, adding she has been to the facility, which opens around 5 p.m. every Tuesday, about three times.

Like Thomas, Stubbs lost her insurance when she lost her job.

Now she is able to fill some of her major prescriptions through the clinic.

It is more than she otherwise could afford to do.

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In the mid-1990s, officials with what was then three hospitals in Enid formed a board and began planning a community clinic.

“We needed some place where people could go and get health care,” said Cordell, who is serving this year as chairwoman of that board.

At the time, the only place for those who did not have insurance or the money to pay for doctor visits was the emergency room.

Many of those cases were not emergency, but patients are not turned away, Cordell said. There-fore, members of the newly formed board knew a community clinic would be a more cost-effective way to treat those without insurance. It also would be better for the patients.

More than a decade later, the clinic has proven itself, with a staff that gives of their time, Cordell said, and cares for their patients.

“We’re one of a few clinics in the United States and the only one in Oklahoma that has a totally volunteer staff,” she said.

That staff consist of a pool of about 40, with 20 of those doctors.

A number of the doctors participate heavily with Enid Community Clinic’s singular fundraiser, an annual charity ball.

The clinic also is a United Way member agency, which “really helps us because we have a lot of needs,” Cordell said.

United Way currently is nearing the end of its fundraising drive this year, as well, and is shedding a spotlight on the agencies it serves.

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Playing a huge role in clinic services is its pharmacy — and lone volunteer pharmacist, Bob Taylor.

In the early days, Cordell said, the clinic went through pharmacies to provide medication through participating drug companies. Now, she said, prescription medication can be obtained at the clinic or sent directly to the patient’s home.

The clinic does not distribute any narcotics, but many prescriptions do qualify, she said.

Once Medicare’s prescription drug plan came into play, pharmacy business slowed, but there still are those without insurance who will leave a doctor’s office with no intention — or money — to fill the prescriptions they are given, Cordell said.

“They might have the money to see the doctor but not get the medicines filled,” she said.

But that is not always the case.

Many are under the misconception the clinic sees only the indigent. In reality, Cordell said, the clinic serves the “working poor,” which includes minimum-pay jobs or — occurring more frequently these days — those finding themselves without work.

There are income guidelines, Cordell said, and many times children do not qualify because they usually can get services through the state.

“We try very hard not to duplicate services they can get free elsewhere,” she said.

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Cordell hopes one day to establish classes — on topics such as budgeting, nutrition and health care — that can help those served at the clinic make better lifestyle choices.

“I believe in quality of life,” she said. “These people need a quality of life, too, and they deserve to be treated with respect, and a lot of people who come here are not treated with respect in a lot of places they go.”

Cordell’s parents were veterans of World War II, she said, and her mother was a nurse.

“It was about service to God and country.”

She has performed missions at home and abroad, and she believes everyone can get involved at home.

“When people asked me, ‘How did you get involved?’ ... Well, I showed up.”

Cordell said one her favorite people always has been Mother Teresa, and she paraphrased a quote from the great missionary she heard long ago: “The God of my understanding does not call on me to change the world, but he does call on me to make a difference where I live.”

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To donate or volunteer time at Enid Community Clinic, leave a message at 233-5300.