Politics & Government

New Clinic in Herndon Aims to Close Gap in Access to Health Care for Low-Income Locals

HealthWorks of Northern Virginia aims to fill the void in health care for thousands of low-income, uninsured residents in Fairfax County.

Fairfax County has been ranked the second-richest county in the country – and yet, roughly 150,000 of its residents are considered low-income, and have no health insurance.

In Herndon in particular, the percentage is frighteningly high, says Carol Jameson.

“The number is enormous – generally 11 to 12 percent,” she said. “Herndon has a large population of residents in poverty.”

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Jameson hopes that, though she can’t change their income status, the opening of the brand-new HealthWorks of Northern Virginia community health clinic can at least change their health care status.

Jameson is the associate CEO of the new community health center, which just celebrated its grand opening on June 11, along with several high-profile guests like Delegate Tom Rust, Congressman Gerry Connolly, Herndon Mayor Lisa Merkel, Fairfax County Supervisor John Foust, and many more.

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HealthWorks now provides medical, dental and behavioral health care to anyone in need, regardless of ability to pay or age, Jameson said.

“We strive to break the barriers to affordable health care and reduce health care disparities in our community,” she explained.

HealthWorks formally operated as the Jeanie Schmidt Free Clinic, and was located off Sunrise Valley for about 10 years, until it approached capacity.

“We were reaching a point where we were going to have a tough time enrolling or helping new patients,” she said.

On Oct. 1, Jeanie Schmidt became a part of the Loudoun Community Health Center, which had locations in Sterling and Reston. With the opening of HealthWorks of Herndon, there are now three locations, serving the people of both Loudoun and Fairfax counties. Therefore, when the new clinic in Herndon was planned, they decided a new name was in order, and became HealthWorks for Northern Virginia.

HealthWorks will likely serve a few thousand patients in the Herndon location, of which about 98 percent are low-income residents who have no health insurance.

The new clinic has many new features, such as on-site laboratory and pharmaceutical services, and even a resource center where patients can use computers and the Internet to look up additional information about health conditions and even complete government forms to apply for food stamps and other needs.

The center can also offer health care for infants, which the Jeanie Schmidt clinic could not.

Though the Herndon clinic does not currently have the ability to offer on-site dental care, Jameson said the staff will offer free transportation to the Leesburg location, which has a large oral health care center with nine dental chairs. Jameson said, oral health care is the greatest unmet health need for low-income citizens, along with prenatal care and care for diabetes.

The center also partners with Reston Hospital to give all needed outpatient testing such as radiology.

Two other lucrative partnerships HealthWorks boasts are with George Mason University and Kaiser Permanente. GMU’s School of Nursing is donating the services of three nurse practitioners in the psychiatric, gynecological and primary care fields to help patients in Herndon two days a week, and Kaiser is donating two full-time nurse practitioners to work at the clinic.

“We’re so blessed to have such widespread support,” Jameson said.

Congressman Connolly praised the addition of the HealthWorks clinic to the local area at the clinic’s ribbon-cutting on June 11.

“HealthWorks represents an important component in meeting the growing need for core health care services in our area for anyone in need, regardless of age or ability to pay, and whether one has have insurance or not,” he said.

“The Affordable Care Act provides critical funding for this facility and for other community health centers across the nation,” he added. “These centers play a key role as essential medical facilities for millions of Americans, including some of the nation’s most vulnerable populations.”

Rep. Connolly was also given an award during the ribbon-cutting ceremony. He was named a 2013 Distinguished Community Health Advocate “for his support for America’s Health Centers, and for improving access to comprehensive, high quality, cost-effective health care for more than 22 million Americans.”

Jameson said, it is such a good thing that the County of Fairfax recognizes the problems many of its residents have in terms of access to affordable health care, and does something to help.

“Fairfax County is really an example of a community that has owned this problem,” she said, of the fact that so many of its residents live at the poverty level and have no health insurance. “The people of Fairfax County now have three great health centers, serving roughly 27,000 patients.”

HealthWorks, a nonprofit, receives 10 percent of its funding from its federal grant, and the rest of its funding comes from the generous contributions of the state and local government, individuals, corporations, faith communities and foundations.

HealthWorks of Northern Virginia is located at 1141 Elden St., Suite 300, at the corner of Alabama Ave. behind the 7-11, in Herndon. 

What do you think of HealthWorks coming to Herndon? Tell us in the comments below.

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