ERIE COUNTY, Ohio — A healthcare agency in downtown Sandusky recently opened its newest location. Family Health Services' mission is to serve everyone in the community, especially low-income patients who are in need of medical resources.
The health center recently received $1.1 million in federal grant money to continue helping its growing number of patients. They currently service more than 16,000 patients across Northeast Ohio.
“I don’t feel like a number,” said patient Cora Higgins.
Higgins visits family health services for all her medical needs after having a difficult time finding adequate healthcare in the area.
“I had called three other places first; the first one didn't answer my phone call. The second one was scheduling me two to four months out, and then I called here, and I got a person [who] treated me like a person,” Higgins said.
CEO and President of Family Health Services, David Tatro, says the area is a health desert.
While Northeast Ohio may be home to several hospital systems, not everyone can find health care close to home. According to a report by Good R-x, in 2021, one-third of Americans lived in counties where there was inadequate access to things like pharmacies, primary care doctors, and hospitals.
In Erie County, eight percent of people lived 20 or more minutes from a low-cost health center.
“There were several things that were missing in Erie County, Huron county and surrounding areas. If you were a Medicaid patient you couldn’t see a dentist, they weren’t available because private practices can’t afford to see patients with Medicaid or Medicare. So we built a fully operational dental clinic in Huron County and Erie County,” Tatro said.
Another major issue they discovered was 51% of community members in Sandusky and the surrounding areas don’t have regular access to a vehicle.
“So, we put in a transportation initiative, and one of the things that we offer here to the patients that we see is we'll go pick them up, and we'll drive them here and we'll drive them home,” Tatro said.
Family Health Services include not only primary care but dental, behavioral health, and an on-site pharmacy and nutrition. Tatro says 21% of the population in Sandusky can’t afford quality food.
“A lot of the reasons why people come to Family Health Services is because of behavioral health issues. They eat too much, they drink too much, they smoke too much. So, we have a food medicine program where our doctors can write a prescription for food and teach them what's good to eat. The food is medicine program targets those with hypertension, diabetes, and obesity,” Tatro said.
The health center says the new funding will go towards enhancing their mental and substance use disorder treatment.
“For the past several years, it's just been increasing, and the beautiful part is that the stigma is dying down. So, people are seeking out more assistance and more help, but there's not a lot of providers in the field,” said Integrated Care Director Renee Leber.
The funds will go towards training employees on how to work with individuals with substance use and mental health disorders, purchase updated screening tools and hiring community health workers to provide case management services.
“It’s exciting because it’s going to open so many doors [and] help so many more people and we're known for providing good care and meeting patients where they're at,” Leber said.
