ON THE COVER
Photo Contributed by Ryan Coody
Fred Ridgeway, of Massage-in-Knead, works on Don Austin’s back muscles during a massage benefit for regional community health clinics at St. Paul’s parish hall in Fayetteville Saturday, Aug. 8.
Earlier this year, in a 68-17 vote, Arkansas representatives voted to enact an $11 million capital gains tax cut. Sponsored by Rep. Matthew Shepherd (R-El Dorado), House Bill 1402 allows for citizens who make more than $10 million in net capital gain exempt from state taxes.
In order to afford this, several state services were given budget cuts. The biggest? Free community health clinics in rural areas that provide health care to the poor, uninsured and under-insured.
The bill took $4.9 million away from the Health Department, which applied the funding to 101 clinics in 12 regions of the state of Arkansas. For several of these clinics, they have had to reduce their staff, close down operations on certain days, suspend dental services, etc.
Community Clinic NWA has provided more than 90,000 medical and dental care visits to patients. Of those patients, 91 percent live at or below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, 39 percent are uninsured and 60 percent are children, according to their website.
The Department of Human Services’ Aging and Adult Services took a $1 million hit from the legislature, or 20 percent of the original $5 million allocation for the program. The agencies use these dollars for meals, transportation and wellness services.
Photo Contributed by Ryan Coody Several massage therapists gathered at St. Paul’s parish hall in Fayetteville Saturday, Aug. 8 to provide chair massages to benefit regional community clinics.
The thing is, more funding was requested by more Community Clinics this year to the Arkansas Health Department, demonstrating the need more than ever for free clinics, despite the expansion of Medicaid.
While the Medicaid expansion’s private option reduced the number of uninsured patients in Arkansas by 45 percent, according to healthinsurance.org, a quarter of the patients who get their care at Community Health Centers still have no insurance. Some may make too much to be eligible for the Private Option, and yet still may not be able to afford insurance, among various reasons. What’s worse, some may be unaware they are eligible, and the state legislature cut funding to inform people about the new affordable insurance.
Community Clinic in Springdale, Ark., saw a shortfall of $646,000 of state funding this year that will mean less services provided to additional patients and halting outreach services, said Tyler Clark, the clinic’s community development director.
Last year the clinic served 31,562 people, and 54 percent were children. Thirty-five percent were uninsured, and 90 percent of their patients are at or below the federal poverty level.
“We’re going to rely heavily on community support to help us with that budget shortfall,” Clark said. “It’s going to be in flux for a while as we prepare for what’s next. We’re always cautious and very fiscally conservative in the way that we plan. Those kind of errors could mean less services to patients and that would go against our mission. We want to be sure we’re serving as many patients effectively with good care as possible. We also don’t want to stretch too thin. You can definitely over-extend your staff and resources if you’re not careful.”
The Arkansas legislature will have an opportunity to change the Private Option of Medicaid next April. Depending on what they do, the decision could affect the clinic’s patients greatly, Clark said.
When Don Austin, a Fayetteville-based physical therapist, learned about the state’s budget cuts to the Health Department in a KUAF broadcast one day, something compelled him to do something about it. He invited several of his fellow massage therapists to help him organize a benefit to raise money for regional community clinics in their time of deficit.
Photo Contributed by Ryan Coody
Fred Ridgeway, of Massage-in-Knead, works on Don Austin’s leg muscles during a massage benefit for regional community health clinics.
Austin was able to make it work. Several concerned physical therapists came together Saturday afternoon, Aug. 8 at St. Paul’s parish hall in Fayetteville to offer their services to benefit local community clinics.
In total, the event raised $321, and the proceeds were split to two clinics: St. Francis House Community Clinic in Springdale, and Welcome Health in Fayetteville — which is a non-profit foundation that provides free health care and dental services to those eligible.
“I think it was very generous of Don to provide his efforts and time to raise funds for us,” said Monika Fischer-Massie, executive director of Welcome Health clinic in Fayetteville. “We’re going to provide patient care for the money. It will enable us to provide care to those who do not have access to anywhere else.”
The money sent to Community Clinic will help negate some of its lost funds and provide medication to those who need it, Clark said.
“Community Clinic is named intentionally because we serve the community and we’re supportive of the community,” he said. “The outpouring of support from folks like Don and the other community members involved is appreciated and has a direct impact on our patients and the work we that we do.”
Austin said he looks at the benefit as a learning experience to improve on for next time to get more involved. Beyond raising funds, Austin was motivated to encourage all those who attended to register to vote. He was successful, and inspired one citizen to register on Saturday.
“I did it to raise people’s awareness of our legislator’s actions,” he said. “People who don’t vote, they’re allowing this sort of thing to happen. If we don’t get out there and participate it could affect some change. Next time we’re going to advertise it more aggressively.”
Fischer-Massie said she was happy to see the community come together to benefit local clinics.
“The world would be a better place if there were more people like the therapists who contributed their time to benefit others,” Fischer-Massie said. “It’s a big impact of one community member contributes just a little bit.”
