OHIO NORTH EAST Medical facility expands

Ohio North East Health Systems is considering a third Trumbull County location.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR HEALTH WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Ohio North East Health Systems is expanding locally and is also gaining a national reputation as a model for providing quality, low-cost health care, particularly to the uninsured and underinsured.
Locally, a grand opening is planned for today at Ohio North East's newest satellite facility, Good Samaritan Community Health Center, 405 S. Linden Ave., in Alliance.
In addition, Ohio North East, which receives about 35 percent of its income from federal grants and the rest from Medicaid, Medicare, private insurance and fees, is looking at new and expanded facilities in Youngstown and Warren.
Ohio North East Health Systems is the corporate name of a nonprofit health-care system that provides community health service programs and care, primarily for the underinsured and uninsured. It started as the Youngstown Community Health Center, 726 Wick Ave., and now includes the Warren West Community Health Center, 716 Tod S.W., and Trumbull Community Action Program, 1230 Palmyra Road S.W., Warren, as well as Good Samaritan.
Now, Ohio North East is considering establishing a satellite in northern Trumbull County, though that is "fairly far" down the road, and has been invited to develop a satellite center in Portage County, said Dr. Ronald Dwinnells, its chief executive officer.
National exposure
On a national level, Ohio North East has received mention this election year from President Bush, who was in town in May; and a visit from Elizabeth Edwards, wife of John Edwards, Democrat Party vice presidential candidate, on Wednesday.
Both the Republican and Democratic candidates are promoting community health centers as at least part of the answer to the nation's growing health-care crisis, and chose to use the Youngstown Community Health Center as an example of a successful application of the concept, Dr. Dwinnells said.
Besides that national exposure, Dr. Dwinnells has testified several times in Washington, D.C., on behalf of the National Association of Health Care Centers, of which ONEHS is a member.
"It was quite an honor to represent Youngstown and other community health centers throughout the United States. I always say people in Washington know more about us than do local people," he said.
Dr. Dwinnells said community health centers may be part of the answer to providing universal access to health care, a concept in which he said he "totally believes."
Rise in uninsured
There has been a steady rise in the percentage of the Ohio North East patient population that is uninsured, from 34 percent in 1998 to 39 percent in 2003. Locally, the total patient load has grown from 8,000 patient encounters in 1998 to 40,000 at the Warren and Youngstown sites in 2003, and the Ohio North East annual budget rose from $600,000 in 1998 to $5 million in 2004, Dr. Dwinnells said.
The majority of Ohio North East patients are not totally uninsured. Many people, whether covered under Medicaid, Medicare or commercial insurance, choose to get their health care from Ohio North East, which also offers a sliding scale fee service for people with limited income, he said.
"We have a lot to offer everybody, not just the poor," he said.
Faced with growing numbers of patients, the health-care system's board of directors is considering expansion in virtually all directions and facilities, Dr. Dwinnells said.
For instance, the board is planning a new $6 million facility on Elm Street and Service Road, which runs parallel to the Madison Avenue expressway, to replace its Wick Avenue home.
"We're running out of room on Wick Avenue, and Ursuline School is interested in the property," he said.
The city recently approved a $25,000 grant to develop architectural plans for the new community health-care center.
Considering expanding
Dr. Dwinnells said Ohio North East is considering expansion of its Warren West and TCAP centers in Warren, and establishing a new center, which would start out providing family practice and dental services, in Oak Hill Renaissance Place (the former South Side Hospital) on Oak Hill Drive.
Dr. Dwinnells said that there is a stigma of bad care in community health care, but that is not true here.
"We have an active quality-assurance system, and we have to meet federal standards to be eligible for tort coverage," he said.
alcorn@vindy.com