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Med students put on a (free) clinic in Portsmouth

By JIM WASHINGTON, The Virginian-Pilot
© April 9, 2007
Last updated: 9:25 PM

PORTSMOUTH - The patient perched on an exam room bed, facing a doctor and a pair of medical students.

"It's never fun to be a medical mystery," Dr. Amy Price said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Antwan Bell had walked into the Maryview Foundation Healthcare Center free clinic with chest pain. He has asthma in addition to other lung problems, but the doctor didn't see any evidence of those ailments that day.

Hence the mystery.

"I was expecting to put you on meds and you'd get better," Price said.
"I was expecting that, too," Bell replied.

Bell is one of about 11,000 people in Portsmouth who qualify for care at the clinic because he doesn't have health insurance and meets certain age and income requirements, Price said. The clinic aims to keep Bell and others from flooding emergency rooms for routine care, which drives up costs and waiting times at local hospitals.

Outside Bell's room, Price conferred with the students. They decided to send him to a friend of Price's who specializes in lung ailments.

The medical students, who had examined Bell first, were relieved they hadn't missed something obvious. It's nice to have a backup, they said.

"That's why they're the real doctors," said second-year student Ashley Lock.
On Tuesday nights, the Maryview center stays open late to host the My HOPE free clinic, created and staffed by students from Eastern Virginia Medical School.

My HOPE has been popular with students eager to gain experience with patients.

"It's a reminder of why we spend all this time in the books," said Abby Mansfield, a second-year medical student from Indiana.

Community service was a big part of why Mansfield chose EVMS - and why she wants to be a doctor.

"I want to be Dr. Price someday," she said.

Students meet with patients first to assess problems. Then they talk with Price. Together, they all meet with the patient.

A group of EVMS students started My HOPE last year.

The clinic operates out of a former religious bookstore on High Street next to Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center. At 5 p.m. Tuesday, 18 patients filled the waiting room. It was one of the first warm days of spring, and the air conditioning had conked out in part of the building.

"This is the underbelly of American health care," said Price, who works at the center part time.

Patients are seen by appointment. Their problems range from diabetes to heart disease to complications from substance abuse.

"Our goal is to get as many things taken care of at one time as possible," Price said. "We try to get them to a state of general health and keep them there."
Price began working at the Maryview clinic in 2005. Last year, she eagerly agreed to team up with EVMS students to offer My HOPE on Tuesday evening s. She also works at EVMS as an assistant professor of family and community medicine.

Originally from Memphis, Tenn., Price worked at a rural health care center in Nelson County, Va., before moving to Norfolk with her husband and two children.

Price, a slender woman with red hair and glasses, sees every patient who comes in and treats each like an old friend.

She scrounged up medication for one patient, a man who suffers from asthma and works in a dusty lumber yard. He ran out of his medicine and suffered several attacks.

"There's never any reason to run out of your meds," she told him gently.
Price said the clinic has been her "most fun job."

"When I open the door here, anything goes," she said. "And at the end of the day, I know I did something."

It's a feeling she's glad to share with the students.

Near the end of the clinic's evening hours, second-year student Chris Thomas and fourth-year student Jessica Yoder visited with Ben Ralph. The chatty 62-year-old former construction worker has had heart surgery and an eye operation.

Thomas and Yoder asked Ralph about his blood pressure medication, his smoking and his general health.

"The old ticker still ticking?" Ralph asked as Thomas pressed a stethoscope to his chest.

"You're sitting here talking to me, so I'd say it's working pretty good," Thomas answered.

Ralph said he's been impressed with the care he's received.
"This place is a godsend to the community," he said. "They certainly saved my life."

Reach Jim Washington at (757) 446-2536 or jim.washington@pilotonline.com.

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Bon Secours Hampton Roads Health System is a leading health care organization known for providing care for the whole person with grace and clinical distinction. Bon Secours brings together a network of hospitals, primary care practices, ambulatory care sites and continuing care facilities to provide quality health care services to the residents of Hampton Roads. Bon Secours, which employs more than 4,500, includes: Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center, Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center, Mary Immaculate Hospital, Bon Secours Health Center at Harbour View, Bon Secours Maryview Nursing Care Center and St. Francis Nursing Center.

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