THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 23, 1995 TAG: 9504220098
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 126 lines
A HEALTH-CARE revolution of sorts is taking place in Portsmouth, where an estimated 40,000 people have little or no health insurance and receive little medical attention.
The Portsmouth Community Health Center will start seeing patients May 22, just a month after the Sunshine Health Center opened adjacent to Hunt-Mapp Middle School on Willett Drive.
Although 40 other communities, including Newport News and Suffolk, have had similar clinics funded by the U.S. Public Health Service - many of them for years - the new center is Portsmouth's first large-scale attempt to provide affordable primary health care on a sliding-fee scale.
It is in a building that once housed a Be-Lo super market on Lincoln Street at the corner of Seventh Street, and the new Community Health Center is a clean, inviting clinic that seems to reflect good health.
The center's executive director, John E. Schalk, is obviously proud of the new facility he designed. He exuded excitement as he led a recent tour from the pleasant front lobby with its children's play corner through the 9,400-square-foot center, which includes 11 examining rooms.
Although only six of the rooms will be equipped on opening day, Schalk said he built growth into the renovations.
The Runnymede Corp. of Virginia Beach, owner of the shopping center that houses the clinic, did the renovations. Schalk said the center will pay $7,525 a month over a 10-year lease.
One of the landlord's special contributions was furniture for a public meeting room within the center, including a separate entrance as well as a second door off the waiting room.
``This is a community room that will be available by use for groups offering support and health-related activities,'' Schalk said.
The shopping center has been almost empty for a number of years, and Schalk said its owners hope to find businesses for other vacant spaces that will complement the health center.
Schalk said the character of the area has changed since the lights in the shopping center were restored and security guards were hired to patrol the parking lot.
``I feel it's very safe here. And it will be safer when we have more people coming and going from the center. We're taking back another block for people.''
The center operates under a local board, chaired by James M. Nixon, former executive director of the Effingham YMCA. Funding is by federal grants: The first, for $337,000, runs through this June; on July 1, the center will receive a 12-month grant of $450,000.
In addition to the federal money, the center has received support from the Portsmouth General Foundation, the Portsmouth Academy of Medicine Alliance and the city of Portsmouth, which donated equipment from the now defunct city physician's office.
The clinic will open with one full-time physician and one nurse practitioner. The in-house staff eventually is to include three doctors and two nurse practitioners. Schalk said he expects the total staff to grow from 14 on opening day to 24 within a year.
The staff is gradually coming together, he said.
``We're recruiting staff that is very people-oriented. I think it's important in a center like this to have staff who are interested in the patients.''
Dr. Imelda Tobias, a Navy physician who has been running a family clinic at Oceana, will retire from the service this summer to become the Portsmouth center's full-time medical director. In the interim, Schalk said, he will rely on temporary doctors.
Constance Mitchell of Suffolk, a registered nurse who has experience in public health as well as long-term nursing care, will be the center's nursing director.
Mindy Bowen is on staff as a pharmacy technician, a job she has done at the Portsmouth Health Department.
A minimum fee of $5 will be required of each patient. Beyond that, patients will pay based on their incomes. The center will bill Medicare and Medicaid for its clients, and people with private insurance also may use the center.
Aside from treatment, the center also will emphasize good health and nutrition.
And the center will work with the Sunshine center to deal with adolescent health.
``We will not have any obstetrics,'' Schalk said. ``That takes lots of effort - and what is really needed here is primary care, affordable health care.''
The city Health Department will keep the programs it already has, Schalk said, including obstetrics and a pediatrics clinic, family planning, treatment for AIDS and for venereal diseases.
Schalk credits Dr. Venita Newby-Owens, director of the city health service, as an important player in getting the new community center off the ground.
``She was instrumental in getting the Mayor's Health Services Committee formed,'' he said.
Portsmouth General Foundation, which did initial studies for the center as long ago as 1988, also was a major influence on the project, Schalk said. Maryview Medical Center, Portsmouth General Hospital, Eastern Virginia Medical School, the Portsmouth Academy of Medicine and the Portsmouth Health Department all were part of the project.
``Now,'' he said, ``we're opening much sooner than I think anyone predicted.'' MEMO: [For a related story, see page 4 of the Currents for this date.]
ILLUSTRATION: OPEN FOR BUSINESS
The Portsmouth Community Health Center will accept patients by
appointment only. The staff will begin making appointments May 1 for
visits when the center is scheduled to open, May 22.
The center will be open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays,
Thursdays and Fridays, and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays.
Center Executive Director John E. Schalk says he anticipates
opening more nights and eventually Saturdays as the staff expands.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
John E. Schalk was a volunteer on the board of directors of the
Portsmouth Community Health Center before he applied for the job of
director.
Schalk, 48, worked at Eastern Virginia Medical School from the
time he retired from the Navy in 1991 until he resigned to become
the full-time director of the center in January.
He has a master's of public administration in health service
management from Golden Gate University and a bachelor's degree from
Hope College in Michigan.
He and his wife, Bernice, an EVMS employee, have two daughters: a
Louisa County school teacher and a second-year student at Virginia
Tech.
- Ida Kay Jordan
by CNB