LORAIN — Lorain County Health and Dentistry, a safety net for the poor and uninsured, is in danger of closing its doors after it was denied a highly competitive federal grant worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The announcement Monday sent organization officials into a panic as they questioned whether they could continue without the three-year, $650,000 grant. The charity agency provides medical and dental care for thousands of needy Lorain County residents, yet has never received federal funding.

Stephanie Wiersma, CEO of the agency, had hoped that would change this year.

“Hearing that we are not getting funding was devastating,” Wiersma said. “We had every reason to believe we were fundable, and we really believed this would be the year. Now, so much is at risk.”

Incorporated as a separate health center by Community Health Partners in March 2002, the center — which sees roughly 12,000 patients each year — receives 80 percent of its funding from patient fees.

In addition, until 2006, CHP provided financial support. However, the hospital cut that funding, which primarily went toward uninsured patient care.

Since then, Wiersma said, the center has struggled to keep up with day-to-day operations as more uninsured patients seek medical care. The Stocker Foundation, Nord Family Foundation and Community Foundation of Lorain County have stepped up this year to fund uninsured health care.

But already, that money has been depleted.

“Right now, it’s business as usual,” Wiersma said Tuesday. “My sense is the board will make some decisions in the next seven to 10 days on services and operation.”

The worst-case scenario would be closing the clinic’s doors. The best-case scenario would be having financial help from the community to keep the doors open.

This is not the first time the center has faced drastic cuts and the possibility of closing.

In 2007, the warning bells were sounded by the center, and local philanthropic organizations came to the rescue. Knowing that the issue would likely resurface in the near future, the Nord Family Foundation formed Healthcare Lorain County, a group that is setting out to change the way the uninsured seek medical treatment.

As such, what is happening with Lorain County Health and Dentistry is merely a symptom of a bigger problem facing the entire county, said Jerry Skully, executive director of United Way of Greater Lorain County and chairman of Healthcare Lorain County.

“We have to look at this as being just another incident that shows the obvious crisis level of the situation,” Skully said. “This just underscores how all the players in the county have to come together to fix the system, not just a particular situation. We’re completely sympathetic to the problems facing Health and Dentistry, but we have to also look at ongoing ways to make the system better.”

The group is still months away from enacting its plan of establishing a medical home in Lorain County, which designates places where the uninsured can seek care without visiting an emergency room. However, all are aware urgent action is needed.

“Looking at what we did before to solve this is wrong because recurring situations tell us we don’t have a good solution,” Skully said.

Wiersma believes the local problem may only worsen with the recent announcement by Cleveland MetroHealth Medical Center that it will no longer provide free or discounted doctor visits to uninsured people who live outside Cuyahoga County.

Employees of the Cleveland public hospital have started calling 900 patients before their next doctor’s appointments to inform them that they must pay $150 for each visit. If they don’t have the money, patients will be given lists of free and community health clinics in their home counties.

“We will likely be referred some of those patients, but I’m not quite sure — no, I’m positive — we are in no better position to be able to help those people,” Wiersma said. “There isn’t anyone else left to pick up this volume, nor is there anyone else who can afford to care for the poorest of the poor.”

Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.

 

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