Faculty and students at the UNMC College of Nursing in Kearney, Scottsbluff, Lincoln and Omaha, hope to draw attention to the plight of the uninsured during National Cover the Uninsured Week, May 10-16. The college has a number of nursing centers and services that provide outreach to the underserved.
Nursing centers provide primary care services, disease prevention, health promotion, access and care to those who otherwise would do without because of financial, transportation, and language barriers. Medicaid, Medicare, grants and sliding scale fees pay for services. No patient is denied help due to their inability to pay.
“Our Kearney clinical setting was designed specifically with minority populations in mind,” said Kate Nickel, Ph.D., assistant professor of community health nursing. “The approach is culturally attuned to the people served. Our team, headed by an advanced practice registered nurse, provides prevention, health maintenance and holistic health care. Although there is a minimum charge or donation requested, we do not turn away those who cannot pay.
“If the service didn’t exist, often, patients would not receive health care until they were forced to seek emergency care,” Dr. Nickel said.
“Being uninsured is a problem across the state,” said Kate Fiandt, D.N.Sc., UNMC College of Nursing associate professor of nursing and nurse practitioner. “The UNMC College of Nursing partners with community organizations in Omaha and each of the division’s locations in Lincoln, Kearney and Scottsbluff, to help provide a ‘safety net’ of care for adults and children who fall through the cracks of the health care system. We take care of mostly vulnerable populations.”
It’s a myth that the uninsured are mostly young, low income or indigent populations, said Dr. Fiandt, who also serves as clinical director of the Family Health Care Center in South Omaha, which provides care to underserved populations. “A lot of the people we serve work but have no health care benefits because they can’t afford it. Food, clothing and shelter are the priorities.
“We try to teach our students to think about costs and treatment options,” Dr. Fiandt said. “We want students to ask themselves if a patient really needs a certain procedure or is there another way.”
The College of Nursing provides care to the uninsured and underinsured in a variety of ways. Many of the centers and services provided are funded by grants and UNMC.
Some of the nursing centers and services across Nebraska include:
- Clinics in Lexington and Gibbon served by faculty and students at the Kearney division provide prevention and health maintenance care to Latinos.
- In Scottsbluff and Alliance, the Panhandle Hispanic/Native American Diabetes Outreach Clinics are directed by Gloria Gross, Ph.D., assistant dean, UNMC College of Nursing West Nebraska Division. The clinics collaborate with the Panhandle Migrant Health Center. Services to Latinos and Native Americans with diabetes receive screening, foot exams, home glucose testing equipment and vouchers for eye and dental exams. One third of the 300 clients have no insurance.
- Senior Health Promotion Center in Lincoln – nursing and dental faculty and students run a Thursday clinic that serves older adults with low-incomes, particularly minorities and refugees living in the Lincoln and Lancaster County area. Services include assessment of physical health; blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose screening; foot care; and other health prevention and maintenance services.
- Cosmopolitan-UNMC College of Nursing Mobile Nursing Center, based in Omaha, provides services by traveling to rural and urban locations in Nebraska, providing disease prevention, screening, health education, and referral and follow-up services.
- Family Health Care Center in South Omaha provides primary health care services, including patient education, patient advocacy and case management. Other services that operate as part of the center are the student-run Student Health Alliance Reaching Indigent Needy Groups (SHARING) and the Responsible Early STD Prevention, Education & Community Testing clinics. The clinical also provides psychiatric mental health services.
Click here for more information and statistics on the uninsured.