Meet Our Patients

1. Wendy Holdren Register-Herald ReporterThe Register-Herald

Meet Kenneth
Over two years ago, I, like many residents of <the Ohio> Valley received notice that I would be laid off from my full-time job. I could not afford my own health insurance after the layoff. This was a big problem because I have COPD, emphysema and health complications from a stroke. The six prescriptions I was on totaled over $700 per month. A friend informed me of <Wheeling> Health Right. I filled out the application, was seen by a Health Right intake person, and filled one of my prescriptions all in one day! Throughout the past two years, I have received excellent care from some of the area’s best physicians. I was sent to Dr. Blatt for my lung disease and <I> received physical therapy from Dick Lambie at OVMC. Each visit was no cost to me. All of my prescriptions were filled at the Health Right office and were very affordable with the cost totaling $12. <Wheeling> Health Right probably saved my life. At the time when I could barely afford food and shelter, Health Right allowed <me> to receive much needed medical care. Thank you to Kathie Brown and to all of the health care workers and administrative staff that keep the doors of Health Right open to people like me.
Wheeling News Register, July 16, 2011

Meet Angelo:
Angelo was twenty-seven when he was referred to the Susan Dew Hoff Clinic. His entire mouth was infected with decayed teeth. He was so humiliated that he would barely talk. He was thin due to his inability to eat, and his low self-esteem  left him unwilling to care for his appearance. He had given up hope that anyone would help him. Angelo was in extreme pain, so his employer drove him to the clinic. Since then, Angelo has had his decayed teeth extracted or filled and the clinic made him a partial. Now, his entire attitude has changed. He is eating again, has become very sociable, and is very well-groomed. His employer says that  Angelo is a completely different person.

Meet Danny:
Danny moved to Beckley from Atlanta and quickly found a good job with benefits, including health insurance. However,, a  sudden illness required immediate heart surgery—four stints were placed in his heart— and his life hung in the balance.  To  survive, Danny  needed  medications for the rest of his life.  He became partially disabled and lost his good job…and insurance. Friends pointed him to Beckley Health Right for help with his medications and for blood work to  monitor his progress. Then, another bombshell fell on Danny. He discovered that he had Hepatitis-C, a viral blood disorder that often lies dormant for years. He  joined Beckley Health Right’s  Hep-C Management Program . According to Danny,“Everybody at Beckley Health Right makes patients feel like people, not just a body; they talk to you about your problems and offer help anywhere they can find it.. It’s like they’re part of my family. . . .”

Meet Lynn:
Lynn is a 28 year old mother of 2 young children. She has severe lung disease, but, because Lynn’s husband lost his job and consequently his health insurance last year, she has no health insurance.  Lynn is now a patient at the Eastern Panhandle Free Clinic.  Just like many of the patients coming to the clinic, she never  thought she’d be without insurance and in need of health care.  Lynn needs regular medical treatment, including medications which cost more than $1600 a month.  She cannot possibly pay for medical care and medications when her family is worried how they will pay for food and housing.  Fortunately the clinic is able to provide these life saving services to her for free.  Now Lynn is not only able to continue to care for her family but she works part time and is a volunteer in the community and at the free clinic.

Meet Iris:
Iris  is 39 years old.  She works full time but the company does not offer any health insurance benefits.  She suffers from high blood pressure and the free clinic has helped her to get free medicines, has kept track of her health through lab tests and has provided other help whenever she is sick.  Iris says, “I don’t know where I would go for health care if there was not a free clinic in Clarksburg (Health Access, Inc.).  The ER is so expensive and after you have gone there so much, they don’t want you to come back there.  I guess I could try urgent care if I could get the money.  I would probably try taking over the counter medicines when I was sick and pray that they helped me.  I would not be able to afford my blood pressure medicine and would have to go without it. .”

Meet Phoebe:
Phoebe is 48 years old.  In June of 2009 she was diagnosed with diabetes.  She enrolled in the Healthy Lifestyle – Healthy Life diabetic management program at Ebenezer Medical Outreach.  After completing the program, she began exercising two to three days per week and reducing food portions and she lost 22 pounds.  Phoebe says, “My provider said that if I kept up the good work I would be taken off my medication.  Ebenezer does a great job of making sure patients have their blood work at the right time.  My husband who has insurance has gone over a year without receiving lab work that I get regularly at Ebenezer.”

Meet Donna:
Donna lost her husband five years ago to cancer. She had to quit working to take care for him. Once he died, she had trouble getting a job. It wasn’t easy for a 50 year old to find work. She finally got a part time job without any benefits. Donna says, “I haven’t had any health insurance for the last five years. I went to a health fair once and they told me I should get my blood sugar checked. I might have diabetes. I didn’t know what to do and then a friend told me about  (Milan Puskar) Health Right. Once I got in there they found out I do have type 2 diabetes. They helped me get free medication and glucose test strips. Health Right even has a diabetes class and I’ve learned how to change my eating and how to take better care of myself. I told one of the nurses that I felt lonely and still cried about my husband leaving me and she helped me get a counselor to talk to at Health Right.  If it wasn’t for Health Right, I don’t know if I’d still be able to keep a job or take care of my grandchildren.”

Meet Tom:
Tom spent most of his adult life in WV working in industry. Life had been comfortable with a substantial salary and excellent benefits. Then, through a series of events beyond his control, the plant shut down and he became another statistic in the growing epidemic of unemployment. Unexpectedly he found himself raising his grandchildren; his wife developed multiple health problems, and he was no longer able to afford medical care for hypertension or for new onset depression. Things were really looking down for Tom. He didn’t want to get up in the morning, didn’t want to leave the house and his self-esteem was shattered. He was having constant headaches and blurred vision related to elevated blood pressure. At an emergency room visit with his wife, an employee recommended Good Samaritan Clinic. After a few visits with the nurse practitioner and restarting his medications, Tom’s blood pressure was under control and his depression symptoms were less severe. He now feels physically and emotionally able to care for his family. He continues to seek employment and wants to further his education.

Meet P.T.:
P.T. is a 64 year old lady who lives alone on a pension of $585.00 per month. She has been a patient at Mercer Health Right (MHR) for the past 12 years and has been treated regularly for hypertension and congestive heart failure.  This past November, P.T. developed pneumonia, for which she was treated with antibiotics.   In February her pneumonia returned, and MHR provided her antibiotics and inhalers. P.T. had to ride the bus to get to the clinic; it was snowing and temperatures were in the ‘20’s.  When clinic employees found out that she was going home to a house that had had no heat for 6 days, that her walks hadn’t been shoveled and that she also was going to have to ride the bus to the grocery store for food, they found a young man at the Bluefield Union Mission to take her grocery shopping, shovel her walks (it took him two days to shovel 4 inches of ice and the snow), and start her kerosene heater and wood stoves for her even though she was “  embarrassed” and didn’t “want to be a burden for anyone.” She has been immunized against further bouts of pneumonia and will continue to receive treatment at MHR until she is eligible for Medicare.