Friday, September 13, 2024
AZLE — For the uninsured, managing chronic illness without racking up major debt can seem like an insurmountable problem. A lesser-known and homegrown Texas Health Resources program is here to help.
The Healthy Education Lifestyles Program is a low-cost chronic disease health clinic available for those without health insurance. It is located on the hospital campus in the Professional Office Building at 909 Southeast Parkway. It provides enrolled patients with education and disease management, augmented by lab testing, prescription assistance, and other treatment resources for just $20 per visit. It is primarily staffed by just three women. The “A-Team” of THR’s Azle HELP program are nurse practitioner Bobbi Hardman, licensed vocational nurse Shannon Choate, and administrative assistant Melanie Jackson. The program was started by former THR Azle Director of Community Health Marsha Ingle in 2012 and saw immediate success throughout the hospital system.
Her idea spread quickly and nine other entities opened similar programs, facilitated by Azle with orientation and training. System-wide grant funding for HELP ran out in 2022, but many hospitals have decided to continue funding the program individually — including the flagship clinic in Azle. Since the beginning, local staff said hospital leadership recognized the value of the clinic and the community’s need for the program.
Through health education and active management of chronic diseases, HELP staff hope to see uninsured patients improve their quality of life and save money by improving their health, minimize emergency room visits, and avoid hospitalizations.
The program accepts patients 18-years and older from Tarrant, Parker and Wise counties who are uninsured and meet certain medical qualifications. Some common illnesses they treat include diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, COPD, and heart failure. The program currently works with the University of Texas Southwestern Moncrief Cancer Institute to provide free colon cancer screening kits and free or low-cost mammograms. Clinic staff hopes to continue increasing services as the area continues to grow. Exclusions to the clinic include immediate life-threatening diseases or injuries, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, and pain management.
Staff reports seeing six to 10 patients per day and spending a much longer time with them than an average emergency room or physician visit. One central pillar of the program is education, which is carried out by Choate. Every month the clinic offers a different topic. Examples include medication management, chronic inflammation, the importance of oral health, and currently the importance of hydration and staying safe in the summer heat. Choate described seeing patients improve and self-manage their chronic condition as the most rewarding part of her job.
"We've had people say, 'you saved my life. I had no idea how I was going to be able to afford the care I needed,’" Choate recounted. "To watch them transition from the time of their initial visit and after making some lifestyle changes, taking their medications and being more hands-on in their own care is really rewarding."
Patients in the program are often asked to return once per month for about a year in order for staff to closely monitor their progress and help them manage diseases in the long term. One advantage to the program is that the staff runs the necessary labs in-office and provides the results during their visit. Also, the waiting times to schedule appointments are much shorter.
The gratitude and connections that HELP patients have for the program last much longer than any hospital visit, staff said. Most HELP patients are in their 40s and 50s, but they will occasionally receive younger patients or older patients who do not qualify for Medicare. Staff describes former patients often stopping by the office or leaving a message to let them know how they're doing. “We’re lucky to be a part of that,” Hardman said. “That’s the wonderful thing about healthcare in general is you get to be a part of somebody’s life that you never otherwise would and that’s just really a blessing. …We truly partner with the patient to help provide them with care that they need. … It’s such a great feeling when you can celebrate a patient’s accomplishments!”
The clinic is open Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. To see if you qualify call 817-270-1366.
