Virginia’s first lady visits Fredericksburg

April 04--Virginia's first lady Dorothy McAuliffe visited the Fredericksburg area Thursday to tour the Community Health Center of the Rappahannock Region.

As a branch of Central Virginia Health Services, the clinic on Princess Anne Street offers affordable care to uninsured and underinsured individuals in the community.

During her visit, McAuliffe urged staff to share their experiences working with uninsured patients.

Her husband, Gov. Terry McAuliffe, has been talking at length about the uninsured as he's campaigned for passage of Medicaid expansion by the legislature.

Throughout the discussion, many expressed frustration with current Medicaid restrictions, which provides coverage for children but often leaves parents without aid and unsure of where to go.

"You see working parents who have multiple children, who grow ill and can't seek help," said Stephen Manikas, a counselor with the clinic. "If anything happens to these parents, their children are at a loss and will have nowhere to go."

Many staff members echoed Manikas' concerns, sharing stories of patients who had large families and often went without care.

"As someone with substantial health insurance, I feel bad that I can't give it to them," Manikas said.

According to the staff, much of the work they do extends past simple health care, and often overlaps with social services.

"There is a lot of misinformation about programs and what is offered, and a substantial amount of what we do is also education and outreach," said Sheena Mackenzie, the CVHS development director.

Within one location, the community health clinic offers a variety of services to their clients, including pediatrics, dental and mental health services. This helps cut cost for their clients and provides a more comprehensive range of services.

According to Mackenzie, uninsured individuals often wait until circumstances are severe before seeking help, which usually results in pricey emergency room visits. Some free clinics have waiting periods before individuals can be provided specialized treatment, while community clinics such as CVHS can offer same-day service to registered patients.

"I see this every day in my community, working people who just can't get insurance for their kids or themselves," said Marguerite Young, an 85-year-old Fredericksburg resident who attended the discussion to share her concerns with McAuliffe.

"We see it, but I don't know if our lawmakers know that people are in need. They might not be seeing it like we do," Young said.

Thursday's visit was one of 12 events that have been held in community clinics around the state to discuss health care problems and gain information for Gov. McAuliffe's new Medicaid expansion program.

The program aims to provide coverage to 400,000 uninsured Virginians. According the first lady's chief of staff, Lincoln Saunders, 98,000 of those are working-age parents.

"Economically and morally, we need to make sure that Virginians have health care coverage," Dorothy McAuliffe said. "Each of those 400,000 are our neighbors and friends, and it is important to remember that."

Hope Racine 540/374-5403

hracine@freelancestar.com

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