Dr. Oz reaches out to Houston's uninsured
2,000 turn out to Houston clinic hosted by TV physician for free exams and minor procedures they’ve gone without.
By CINDY GEORGE
cindy.george@chron.com
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Sept. 27, 2009, 8:39AM

Elayne Hutchens, 47, of Bear Creek, thanks Dr. Mehmet Oz on Saturday. Hutchens has trouble with her liver, heart and pancreas. “I need a miracle. I don't know if I'll make it to 50,” she said. 

With her sweatpants pockets bulging with medicine bottles, a towering 35-year-old heart patient waited eagerly outside the Reliant Center.

Margo Graham, who had triple bypass surgery four years ago, was among the uninsured Houstonians to arrive before dawn Saturday seeking help at one of the largest free health care events of its kind in the United States.

Insurance with her new job as a basketball coach at The Village School doesn't start until Nov. 1, forcing her to try to stretch her prescriptions for blood thinners, cholesterol medicine and blood pressure pills.

“I'm just grateful that I have this opportunity,” said Graham, a former WNBA player who was hoping to get a prescription at the clinic that would last until her insurance kicks in.

Nearly 2,000 people turned out Saturday for the free checkups, medical tests and minor procedures performed by 700 volunteers at the event hosted by television physician Dr. Mehmet Oz and the National Association of Free Clinics. Scenes from the clinic will be used in an October episode of The Dr. Oz Show.

Inside Reliant Center, patients received care near two recreational vehicles converted to mobile emergency rooms. Behind the RVs, metal pipes and blue cloth provided makeshift exam rooms.

Dashing around in dark-blue scrubs, Oz said he hopes patients leave with a sense that someone cares about the uninsured and the knowledge that there are places to go for free health care.

Oz called the more than 40 million uninsured Americans “a national catastrophe … but one that we can engage and actually embrace and probably overcome.”

Texas has the nation's highest uninsured rate. One in every three Harris County adults lacks health insurance. More than 4 million Americans receive care from the nation's free clinics.

“Part of the goal today is to make it clear that there are Americans here who will help those who need the help,” Oz said. “There are ways of supporting those who do not have health care coverage. We need to create a system where all of us can be part of it.”

The cardiac surgeon, who gained popularity as a regular guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, thanked the hundreds of medical personnel who donated their time.

“We're not going to cure all 2,000 people who have come today, but we are going to be able to provide continuity of care for everybody who comes here … so they can access clinics near them,” Oz said.

Barriers to health care

Patients told stories of their barriers to health care: insurance loss after layoffs; premiums that became too high to pay; and being underinsured — having coverage, but not enough money to pay deductibles and co-payments.

Karen Coney was the first patient, arriving in the dark just before 5 a.m.

The Missouri City mother of seven has five minor children at home — all of whom have asthma.

“I wanted to make sure that I was first in line. I'm a single mom, and I have a lot to do today,” said Coney, 47, a Houston ISD substitute teacher who canceled her health insurance because she couldn't afford the premiums. She's having colon problems and hasn't had an exam in a year.

“I knew I needed to see the doctor, and I didn't know where to go,” she said. “It's an answer to prayer.”

Elayne Hutchens brought a typed letter to Oz about her years of serious health problems, including a heart attack. The 47-year-old's liver has caused her belly to swell large enough to prompt pregnancy inquiries. She also has heart and pancreas trouble.

“I need a miracle. I don't know if I'll make it to 50,” Hutchens said.

A technician performed an EKG, and Oz listened to her heart.

“Elayne was a good example of someone who had been around the health care system,” Oz said. “She's lucky in some ways because she's been able to get help from some good doctors, but she's got a complicated story, and she's just seeking help.”

He also took a look at Coney. “She's working,” Oz said. “Although her kids are covered through a state assistance program, she doesn't get coverage. And she's got health problems — big health problems that need to be addressed.”

A close call

A man who arrived later in the day, Anthony DeLane, was whisked away by ambulance to Ben Taub General Hospital. A diabetic ulcer on his foot was so infected that it had opened up and exposed bone, said Dr. G. Bobby Kapur, a Taub emergency physician and Baylor College of Medicine professor. Without quick care, the infection could have spread into his bloodstream or his leg.

“If we don't get to it fast, instead of losing a toe, he may lose a foot or a whole leg,” said Kapur, one of the medical directors of Saturday's clinic. “He had not been able to get care for five years because he doesn't have insurance. He's self-employed.”

Fourteen-month-old Analeigha Rivera turned out to be one of Oz's youngest patients.

Mother Victoria Rivera learned that her baby has a potentially life-threatening heart murmur.

“Dr. Oz said that where her hole is at, it can cause heart failure and cause her lungs to harden up. It could cause her to stop breathing,” said Rivera, 25, of Freeport, who brought all five of her children for checkups. “Her Medicaid was dropped when she turned 1. … We're looking for a clinic around who will take her.”

Ron Cookston, executive director of Gateway to Care, said he spoke to an alarming number of middle-class people who don't know how to navigate the free and reduced-cost health care system.

“The most important thing is for people to have a place where they go to the doctor on a regular basis that is not an emergency room,” Cookston said. “We've seen people from Chambers, Liberty and Galveston. People have come from a long distance.”

cindy.george@chron.com