The Official Newspaper of the Diocese of Little Rock
GOULD -- Twenty years after opening health centers in two southeast Arkansas towns, the Daughters of Charity paused from their regular schedule of patients and paperwork to remember the beginning of DePaul Health Center and St. Elizabeth Health Center.
Daughters of Charity Services of Arkansas came to Gould in Lincoln County and Dumas in Desha County to serve the poor who were underinsured and uninsured. Today its ministry is needed more than ever and is continuing to expand as needs arise.
On Oct. 1 two ceremonies were held at the clinics to honor its two founding sisters, Sister Mary Walz, DC, of St. Louis and Sister Joan Pytlik, DC, of Little Rock, and pay tribute to the current staff and patients. The ceremonies included a benediction by Bishop Anthony B. Taylor and remarks from Kathryn Musholt, CEO of Daughters of Charity Services of Arkansas.
Shortly before the event at St. Elizabeth Health Center in Gould, clinic director Kathy Norris said the clinics are needed because they provide "access to health care that would otherwise be denied or inaccessible."
No patient is ever turned away because they lack the ability to pay, she said. Patients pay on a sliding scale based on their income, with a few who are served for free.
"It is important for an individual's self worth to be able to pay for health services," she said. "We have some patients who are charity."
As unemployment hovers at 9.2 percent in Lincoln County and 10.6 percent in Desha County, Norris said the demographics of the patients are changing.
"We have more people who are now not on health insurance," she said.
Norris said the health centers are a model of "holistic health care." As a former nurse educator, Norris said, "We teach students to provide it, but we never see it."
"This is the only place I've seen it," she said of the clinics. "It's really exciting to see something work like it's intended to work."
In Gould and Dumas, the whole person -- body and soul -- can be treated. Medical director Dr. Robert Scott works part-time in each location, but a nurse practitioner is there all day Monday through Friday.
A licensed counselor, Sister Judy Warmbold, DC, offers private counseling and leads activities such as Women Inspiring Self Empowerment, or WISE, a support and education group.
Sister Dorothea Moll, DC, a licensed social worker, assists patients to get government services. A pharmacy assistance program works with patients to get free medicine through various pharmaceutical companies. Programs are available to address obesity and diabetes, two critical health issues in the Delta. In both locations, a bilingual interpreter assists patients who speak Spanish. In Gould, a dentist is available. Also in Gould, a wellness center opens at 5:30 a.m. each weekday.
"The only thing we don't do here is deliver babies," Norris said.
Services are not just limited to the poor.
"We are here for everybody," Sister Judy said. "It's a bedrock of quality service."
The idea for the clinics began in 1989 when the West Central Region of the Daughters of Charity National Health System asked Sister Mary, a social worker, and Sister Joan, a nurse practitioner, to identify health care and social service needs in underserved communities in the region. Vincentian priests were serving in the Delta and invited the sisters to visit.
According to the clinics' written history, the sisters determined that Gould was "one of the most underserved communities" in the province, which stretched across 11 states from the Mississippi River to the Dakotas and Minnesota to Texas. They found that most residents in Gould went without health care because they lacked access to doctors and transportation.
The sisters determined that the health centers that needed to open must serve a variety of needs, including offering transportation to referral appointments and access to prescriptions.
In March 1990 Dr. Randle Coker, a Catholic physician, donated his building to the Daughters of Charity. Among the first staff members were Sister Mary and Sister Joan.
On Dec. 1, 1990 St. Elizabeth Health Center opened in Gould. Then-Gov. Bill Clinton and Bishop Andrew J. McDonald stood on the back of an 18-wheel flatbed trailer for the dedication ceremony.
In 1992, through an agreement with a local doctor, DePaul Health Center opened in Dumas. It was named after the Daughter of Charity's founder, St. Vincent de Paul.
In 1998 the wellness center opened in Gould and in 2001 a new building was constructed to house the clinic. Dental services were added in 2002.
Reflecting on her 14 years in Gould, Sister Mary said, "I learned a lot during my time in your midst. I learned how important it is to listen to what people share when you are trying to create a service to meet their needs. I learned that people are stronger than they think they are and sometimes just need a nudge to get them on the right track. I learned that the people here in the Delta are resilient. Faced with storms, financial crisis, educational challenges, transportation difficulties and other personal, family, social or economic problems, things may get you down, but you bounce back and carry on."
At the end of the fiscal year 2010, the clinics served 24,584 patients with medical, dental and counseling services and the wellness center had 9,534 visits.
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