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THE OFFICIAL WEB SITE OF THE MADISON TIMES WEEKLY NEWSPAPER |
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Dane Co. Coalition for Child Health Free public health by Jonathan Gramling
According to the coalition's annual report, they served 438 children in 2003. Two-thirds of these children came from households where the parents did not have health insurance. Other families use the clinic because their insurance doesn't cover the cost of preventative medicine or the deductibles make the health care unaffordable except in emergency situations. 220 of the parents who brought their children to the clinic worked either full-time or part-time, yet had no health insurance. Sally Zirbel-Donisch, an MMSD program support nurse, coordinates the clinics for the coalition, which pays for her salary. For a clinic this size and with a mission to serve the uninsured, the schools are a natural spot to hold them. "We put on about seven of these clinics per year, Zirbel-Donisch said. "We do them mainly in the schools because the space is large enough for us to do it. What's helpful with that is we have access to a lot of these kids to do the outreach and to do the follow-up. They get really complete check-ups here, from immunizations to blood let to dental to health history and physicals. If there is any follow-up that needs to be done, we try to make sure that happens." Free dental care or dental care covered by medical assistance is in acute shortage. Often times, families on medical assistance must travel as far as Tomah to obtain dental exams and care for their children. "We have done a lot with dental," Zirbel-Donisch emphasized. "Dental access is a huge issue in Dane County. One thing with these clinics, we really work to make sure every kid gets follow-up for dental, whether it's through grants that I write or different partners we work with. Most everyone will get dental follow-up if they need it because most of the people we see here are uninsured, 70 percent of the families. There's a dentist from Meriter doing the screening. They come in the fall and the spring. The dental hygienist from the county and the city do the screening at other times." Zirbel-Donisch and the rest of the health care professionals who work with her know that catching health problems early can reduce the cost and pain later on. "One of our goals in this project is to make sure they have a 'health care home,'" Zirbel-Donisch said. In the clinics sponsored by the Dane County Neighborhood Health Coalition, they have certainly found a home. The members of the Dane County Neighborhood Health Coalition are the American Red Cross Badger Chapter, Dane County Public Health, Dane and Green County Parent Council Head Start, Dean Health Plan, Dean Medical Center, Group Health Cooperative HMO, Madison Department of Public Health, Madison Metro School District, Madison Rotary Foundation, Meriter Hospital, Meriter Foundation, Physicians Plus Insurance Company, St. Marys Hospital Medical Center, United Way of Dane County, Unity Health Plans, UW Children's Hospital, UW Medical Foundation.
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The
biggest public health clinic in Dane County on November 15 probably
wasn't at a traditional health center or clinic. It was held
at Lincoln Elementary School where the Dane County Coalition
for Neighborhood Child Health was trying to meet the health
and dental needs of many of Madison's underinsured and uninsured
families. Spread throughout Lincoln were improvised check-up
rooms where paid and volunteer doctors and other health care
professionals provided preliminary care to approximately 70
families and their children.
