Outreach Programs Fill Healthcare Gaps in Texas

Nov. 15--John Griswold first heard of Borden County shortly after he moved here in 1992.

He was working on expanding outreach services for University Medical Center at the time and happened to come in contact with a crew of volunteer first responders from the county.

"Through all this process, we came across Gail, or Borden County," Griswold said. "At that time, they were a volunteer program made up of some incredibly gifted paramedics. These folks were teachers and cotton farmers. Their grasp of emergency medicine and first aid was just quite phenomenal."

He noticed the emergency medical crew making efforts to receive training so when they asked for his help, he didn't think twice about saying yes.

"So really when I met up with them, they were an EMS system that was as good as anything that we have in Lubbock," Griswold said. "They were volunteering their time. They were director-less."

Volunteers wanted to know if he could help.

"We basically made them an extension of Lubbock EMS or South Plains EMS," Griswold said. "They use a lot of our protocols. I oversee emergency medication needs that they need for emergency care, make sure their training and licensing is up to date. They are so self-sufficient that my job is embarrassingly easy."

He provides guidance to the volunteer EMS crew voluntarily, Griswold said. But it's not the only tie UMC has to rural communities in the area.

It has clinics in several of the rural communities -- including the Garza County Health Clinic -- and has worked to host and train medical officials to introduce more services to their communities, he said.

Overseeing the volunteer EMS services is one example of some of the efforts by local health organizations to fill health care coverage gaps.

Dr. Michael Owen, a board member for Covenant Medical Group, said the hospital has been working to recruit more specialists through community needs assessments and keeping track of fluctuations.

"We're out in the middle of nowhere, allegedly, and we almost have everything covered between us and the medical school," he said.

Owen said UMC and Covenant are trying to work more closely to provide training locally for aspiring doctors.

Dr. Surendra Varma, executive associate dean for Graduate Medical Education and Resident Affairs for the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center, said 30 medical students will be placed at Covenant starting in 2016 for training rotations.

Covenant has also funded eight family practice residents through the hospital.

"They take shifts in the ER," Owen said. "They're making rounds in the hospital."

The efforts to train more doctors and reach out to local communities dwindle down to one thing -- patient access to care.

"One of the keys that we're trying to also do is provide access for the patients," Owen said. "Our families don't get sick 8 to 5 Monday through Friday. We're trying hard to make access for the patients easier, like strategically placed clinics in active areas of town."

Randy Hickle, CEO of Grace Health System, said the health care organization hopes to provide access through telemedicine resources.

"In general, the rural communities have outstanding primary care," he said. "... That's not true in every county."

When patients have to drive several hours for access to medical services like cardiology or chronic health issues, they face commute time plus wait time, he said.

Using telemedicine resources or telemonitoring devices -- like the ones already in place at Grace -- provides a way for patients to have access to a doctor from a location closer to home.

Jodey Arrington, president of Scott Laboratories, Inc., the holding company for Grace Health System, said the organization is working to partner with health organizations in the Texas Panhandle to provide care to some of the counties that don't have close access.

Providing care to rural communities is important for more than just access, Hickle said. It's important to stabilize rural health care infrastructure.

"It supports jobs," he said. "It's a critical component of the economy of the community."

ellysa.gonzalez@lubbockonline.com

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