Tri-State Community Health Center marks six years of helping people

For the Cumberland Times-News
Cumberland Times-News

May 24, 2008 07:15 pm

— CUMBERLAND — Tri-State Community Health Center, located on Kelly Road, is celebrating six years of providing quality patient-centered health care in the tri-state region.
In fact, if it wasn’t for federally qualified health care centers like Tri-State, many people of this region would be without access to quality primary health care coverage and the related services that the center has access to.
The center accepts most insurance plans and offers preventive and quality primary health care for people of all ages. With the costs of health care insurance skyrocketing, people with or without insurance coverage can find the help they need there. The mission of the health center is “to improve lives by providing high quality health care to everyone in the community regardless of their ability to pay.”
From the time they walk in the front door, patients will find a very friendly and knowledgeable staff to assist them on their visit. New patients may meet with the case manager to assess their financial needs and to inform them of the particular benefits that are available to them. In addition, Tri-State works with a vast health care network throughout the tri-state region to provide additional specialty care through participating agencies. As they proceed through Tri-State, they will continue to find caring, compassionate clinical staff and finally, highly qualified, board certified providers.
One such person that found much needed assistance came to the center approximately four years ago. Karen had a history of hypertension, high cholesterol, neuropathy, diabetes, back pain and heart conditions. She was in constant pain and unable to work because of her disabilities.
She had been rejected numerous times to receive state assisted disability benefits. Working with her provider, Dr. Marilyn Nelson, and the case manager, she was able to qualify for the discount program and only had to pay an affordable co-pay for each visit to her primary care provider.
The patient was also taking over 19 different medications that she also could not afford. Working with Tri-State’s pharmacy services coordinator, she was able to qualify for programs and benefits where she received her medications at no cost. Karen finally qualified under state-assisted benefits and at that time, the case manager and pharmacy coordinator were able to help her schedule much needed surgeries that she had to put off because she had no income.
Eventually, the state ap-proved her disability benefits and she will be receiving Medicare benefits. The case management team continues to follow her case and will help her file for prescription benefits under the Medicare Part D program once she’s eligible.
It has been a long road for Karen but for her and others like her, federally qualified health centers like Tri-State Community Health Center stand ready to help bridge the gap for all patients, regardless of their insurance, to help them find benefits that are available for their particular health needs at little or no cost.
“I am happy to introduce our patients to a variety of programs and benefits available to them within a vast health care network that we work with,” said Denise Friend, case manager. “Often times our patients were not even aware that these programs existed so we really try to go the extra mile for them.”
“The mission statement is at the very core of not only what we do, but who we are,” said John Quinn, site manager for Tri-State Community Health Center. “For the staff here at TSCHC it more than a job, it is a commitment to provide quality, compassionate health care. We want our patients to feel that they were cared for from the time they walk in until the time they leave.”
For further information on becoming a patient, call (301) 722-3270. Office hours are Monday though Thursday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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