|
- |
BY JIM HALL
With the addition of a psychiatric nurse practitioner, the Lloyd F. Moss Free Clinic has become the first free medical clinic in Virginia to offer full-time mental health services.
Marsha Green joined the Moss Clinic staff last month after two years at Remuda Ranch, an eating disorders clinic in Caroline County.
"This completes what we do," said Moss Executive Director Karen Dulaney. "We've always been addressing the medical, dental and pharmacy care of our patients. This adds to that."
The Fredericksburg clinic hired Green with a three-year, $231,000 grant from the Virginia Health Care Foundation.
"The reason that we gave them the money is that they had a real documented need," said Deborah Oswalt, executive director of the foundation.
Moss Clinic has long
"The idea behind the grant is that if we can improve a person's mental health, their physical health will improve as well," Dulaney said.
Virginia has 50 free clinics, including facilities in Roanoke and Christiansburg that offer mental health services only. Of those that are primary-care clinics, only Moss has a full-time mental health professional, said Lou Markwith, executive director of the Virginia Association of Free Clinics.
"Moss is one of our stellar clinics," he said. "It's one we point to that is providing a wide variety of services."
Free clinics specialize in medical care for the poor. Most treat adults who do not have health insurance and earn less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level. For a family of four, this translates to a gross annual income of about $42,000.
Green said she has seen about 40 clients so far. Most were referred to her by Donna Bowser, the clinic's nurse practitioner, who has been treating chronic illnesses such as diabetes.
Green said she does an initial interview with the clients, and often prescribes a medication and refers them for continuing care to one of the region's mental health centers. "A lot of what I'm doing is triage," she said.
The foundation's grant to the Moss Clinic could serve as a model for grants to other Virginia safety-net organizations, Oswalt said. "This whole issue of the availability of basic mental health services for the uninsured is huge in Virginia," she said.
Earlier this year, then-Attorney General Bob McDonnell offered Oswalt's foundation a $1 million grant from state settlements with pharmacy benefits management companies if it could raise another $1 million. The money would go for mental health services for the poor.
"Moss Clinic is really lucky," Oswalt said. "They've done it on their own. They're a jump ahead of everybody."
Jim Hall: 540/374-5433
Email: jhall@freelancestar.com
| TITLE: Psychiatric nurse practitioner, Moss Clinic STARTED: May 26 BORN: Harrisonburg AGE: 42 EDUCATION: Undergraduate degree, Eastern Mennonite University; nurse practitioner degree, University of Virginia FORMER JOBS: Four years at private psychiatric clinic in San Diego, two years as eating-disorder specialist at Remuda Ranch, Caroline County |
