Health care for Hispanics stays steady

By Aileen Streng

Published: March 21, 2008

Prince William County's Hispanic residents are still seeking health care, despite the recent county crackdown on illegal immigrants.

Overall, area health clinics that serve a largely Hispanic population of low-income,

underinsured and those with no health insurance, are not seeing a decline in the number of patients they are treat-ing.

"We haven't seen the number of cases we see drop at all," said Dr. Adrienne Buggs, medical director of the Greater Prince William Community Health Center. "We're packed."

About half of the patients treated at the community health center, located in the Ridgewood Center off Prince Wil-liam Parkway, are Hispanic. The center, which opened a couple of years ago as a collaborative effort among health care organizations, local hospitals and the county, provides affordable health care services for county residents as well as those in the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.

Buggs said that on March 3, when the county officially began its efforts to identify possible illegal immigrants stopped by police officers and deny a limited number of county services to those who could not prove their legal status, health center officials feared they would see a drop i

patients.

"But it didn't happen," Buggs said. "We don't ask during our initial screening of patients if they are legal or illegal."

Neither do any of the other health providers who treat low-income, uninsured or underinsured.

"As long as you can prove that you permanently reside within the county or the cities of Manassas and Ma-nassas Park [and meet income requirements] you can be treated," said Michelle Schuller, executive director of the Prince William Area Free Clinic. "Our policies have not changed."

The free clinic, run by volunteers and with donations, provides basic health and dental services to low-income and uninsured county, Manassas and Manassas Park residents, many who are Hispanic.

Potomac Hospital's Family Connections mobile clinics nurses also do not ask about their patients' legal status.

"We are too busy asking our patients other questions about their health," said Sallie Eissler, director of the mobile clinic program.

Potomac's two mobile clinics provide healthcare services in Dumfries-Triangle and Woodbridge-Dale City areas along the U.S. 1 corridor.

About half of their patients are Hispanic and most of them are employed, often in service industries where little or no health insurance is offered, Eissler said.

"We are standing-room only," Eissler said. "We are as busy as we can be."

The mobile clinics have had about 8,000 patient visits over the last four or five years, Eissler said.

About 90 percent of the patients treated through a number of programs offered by the Prince William Health District are Hispanic, said Dr. Alison Ansher, district health director.

"When [discussions about the illegal immigration crackdown] came about, people were coming in and asking for their records and saying they were going to leave the county," Ansher said. "It's wasn't a whole lot of people but there were some."

There may have been some confusion about the health district. "They may have felt that we are a county agency and had to abide by some of the county's rules," Ansher said. "We are a state agency and we do not ask patients if they are legal or illegal. We will see anybody."

And overall, health district patient numbers remain about the same. "We are still seeing plenty of pa-tients," Ansher said.

The one area, however, where the health district and Potomac Hospital are seeing a decline in patients is their prena-tal care clinics.

In fiscal 2006, 982 women sought prenatal care at the health district. The number dropped to 658 in fiscal 2007.

At the Obstetric Clinic run by Potomac Hospital and operated out of the Greater Prince William Community Health Center, about 207 women were patients in 2007. "This year it will be down," Eissler said.

This coincides with the number of women who are arriving at area hospitals to deliver their babies without having any prenatal care.

In fiscal 2005, 217 of these pregnant women delivered babies at either Potomac Hospital or Prince William Hospital. That number rose to 399 in fiscal 2006 and again in fiscal 2007 to 489.

Health care officials said they do not know the reason for the decline but are concerned since pregnant women who do not receive prenatal care are far more likely to deliver babies with health problems.

"This is about community health," Eissler said. "We want everyone to seek care."

Staff writer Aileen Streng can be reached at 703-878-8010.