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Free Health Care for the Uninsured Is Coming to Connecticut in
February
Volunteers and Patients Can Register Now
HARTFORD, Conn. – The future of health care is being
negotiated in the nation’s capital, but people struggling with the
lack of health insurance will soon get much-needed help in
Connecticut’s capital when the National Association of Free
Clinics (NAFC) holds its next C.A.R.E. Clinic in Hartford on Feb.
3.
This will be the fifth in a series of large, mostly
one-day C.A.R.E. (Communities Are Responding Everyday) Clinics
held around the country to bring together physicians and other
health care professionals, as well as non-medical volunteers, to
serve the needs of thousands of people who might otherwise go
without medical care.
“Many people are forced to make tough choices between
putting food on the table or paying rent on the one hand and
getting needed medical treatment on the other,” NAFC Executive
Director Nicole Lamoureux said. “As long as affordable health
insurance is not available for everyone, there will be a great
need for the work that more than 1,200 free clinics across the
country do every day. We hold large C.A.R.E. Clinics not only to
provide immediate care to many uninsured people but also to
connect them with the free clinics and other safety-net providers
that can offer them care on an ongoing basis.”
The C.A.R.E. Clinic on Feb. 3 will be held at the
Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford from noon until 7:00
p.m. Care for a wide range of medical issues will be available at
no cost to participants. More than 11 percent of the non-elderly
residents of Connecticut do not have health insurance.
“It is important to note that being uninsured is not the
same as being unemployed,” Lamoureux said. “About 83 percent of
uninsured people have jobs. At past C.A.R.E. Clinics, we found
that many of the patients worked at two or more jobs but did not
receive health insurance benefits. Some even worked as nurses or
for insurance companies but still did not have insurance
themselves.”
During 2009, C.A.R.E. Clinics treated more than 1,700
uninsured patients in Houston, more than 1,000 in New Orleans and
more than 1,000 in Little Rock at one-day clinics and almost 2,300
in Kansas City at a two-day clinic. At those events, more than 90
percent of the patients had three or more life-threatening
conditions, such as cardio-vascular disease, hypertension,
diabetes and pulmonary disease. Most of them either did not go
anywhere previously for medical care or went to hospital emergency
rooms. Many had not been examined by physicians in more than five
years or in even more than 10 years.
The C.A.R.E. Clinics are made possible by hundreds of medical and
non-medical volunteers. Medical volunteers needed for the Hartford
clinic include doctors of medicine, doctors of osteopathy, nurse
practitioners, physician’s assistants, registered nurses, licensed
vocational nurses, emergency medical technicians, medical
administrators, licensed clinical social workers and more.
Non-medical volunteers are needed to help with documentation,
logistical support, patient intake and translation, as well as to
be patient greeters and escorts. Help also is needed for setting
up the clinic, as well as breaking it down.
Information for volunteers and patients is available online at
http://www.regonline.com/ctcare, as well as at
http://freeclinics.us. Patients also can call 877-233-5159 to
make appointments.
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