Thursday, May 8, 2008
Patients begin filing the waiting room at a quarter-to-five every Monday and Wednesday. They have no money or health insurance to cover the cost of their visit, treatment or medication. They don’t have an appointment, and they may not even have proper identification.
None of that matters at JayDoc, a free clinic operated almost entirely by University of Kansas medical students that has treated about 1,800 uninsured and underserved patients in Kansas City, Kan., each year since its inception in 2003.
At 340 Southwest Blvd., first through fourth-year medical students work alongside volunteer physicians from the community. They serve illegal immigrants, the poor and anyone in need of medical attention from 5 to 9 p.m. every Monday and Wednesday, although volunteers often work as late as 10 p.m. The clinic also holds specialty sessions every other Tuesday in areas such as prenatal care, diabetes and physical therapy.
The services that the clinic provides help alleviate the financial strain on the estimated 335,000 Kansans who do not have health insurance, according to U.S. Census figures from 2006. That figure continues to rise as health insurance prices increase.
Sushant Govindan, a second-year medical student from Shawnee, served as the clinic’s finance director for 2007. He said operating JayDoc required around $75,000 raised entirely from donations, grants and fundraisers, not to mention the over $175,000 in labor volunteered by students and doctors.
Govindan said the clinic’s patient base continued to grow as more and more people became aware of its presence. He said JayDoc helped as many patients as possible despite its limited capabilities and supplies. Patients in need of more attention are referred to other clinics or physicians that can assist them.
“There is always something more you can do for your patient that you can’t afford,” he said. “That’s just the reality of the way things work.”
Laurel Witt, a first-year medical student from Kansas City, Mo., and one of the clinic’s three executive co-directors, said it was frustrating to see people suffer from illnesses that could be prevented with proper medical care.
She said as Americans’ health continued to decline with the rise in diabetes and other ailments, people who could not afford health insurance would continue to fall through the cracks of society.
Govindan said approximately 50 percent of the patients treated at JayDoc were either illegal immigrants or considered Spanish their first language, but that a wide range of people took advantage of the clinic’s services.
Although many of the patients at JayDoc can be treated in some manner at the clinic, Witt said it was devastating to see the financial and emotional burden people with more serious or immediate injuries could incur.
“I think the major frustrations come when we see the pain, exhaustion and frustration on the faces of our patients,” Witt said.
Despite the challenges they face, she said the instances when staff were able to create some sort of relief and hope in their patient’s lives made the work worthwhile. She said effective and affordable health care was a need that everyone would face at least once in their lives, making even stop-gap solutions like JayDoc valuable.
“It seems to me that disease is universal,” Witt said. “Life breaks down, aging happens and disease happens to everyone.”
— Edited by Samuel Lamb
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