Census figures used for project

Ohio North East Health Systems Inc. helps provide coverage for the uninsured.
YOUNGSTOWN -- There are 45 million Americans who do not have health insurance. Of that number, 8 million are children.
In Ohio, more than 1.3 million people, or 12.1 percent of the residents, are not covered by health insurance.
Those U.S. Census Bureau statistics from 2003 are being released during "Cover the Uninsured Week 2005," which extends through Sunday.
The project, affiliated with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and now in its third year, seeks to increase awareness of the issue and to find ways to provide health insurance coverage for more Americans, primarily through legislative means.
A nonpartisan coalition of organizations, including the American Medical Association, American Hospital Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, AFL-CIO, United Way of America and Blue Cross and Blue Shield are among those who will be working to highlight the problem. Former Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter are serving as co-chairmen of the weeklong campaign.
Community effects
In the Mahoning Valley, the majority of patients served by the Ohio North East Health Systems Inc. -- which operates health centers in Youngstown, Warren and Alliance -- are either uninsured or underinsured, meaning they have some coverage under Medicare, Medicaid or major medical only.
Dr. Ronald Dwinnells, chief executive officer, said the lack of health coverage affects the entire community.
"If there's that many people that have no health insurance, it means that there are many people who are pretty sick or that are going to get sicker because they have no way of tapping into preventative health care. So then they utilize hospital emergency rooms as their primary health care," he said.
Dwinnells added that use of emergency rooms means somebody will have to pay for those medical services, "That's usually through elevated taxes or increased insurance rates."
He said the area community health centers, which are focused on the poor and those without health insurance, serve as a "medical ... safety net" for those in need.
The numbers of uninsured people, who are often the working poor and not those on public assistance and who are seeking medical treatment at their locations, have risen significantly.
In 2005, it is projected that the area community health centers -- which offer comprehensive services including dental, podiatric, diabetic testing, mammograms and other health screenings -- will have a patient population of slightly more than 15,000 people. Nearly 6,646 of that number are projected to be uninsured.
An additional 9,377 are expected to be served under the Medicaid program. That means that for 2005, 94 percent of those who are likely to utilize the services of the health system will be in the category of uninsured or Medicaid patients.
Meanwhile, Dwinnells said 40 percent, or 5,526 patients, are children under age 19. The majority are ages 3 to 12.
Reaching out
Health systems officials noted there are many ways the center, which was highlighted as one of the best of the 3,700 community health centers in the country during a visit to Youngstown last fall by President George W. Bush, reaches out to address the health problems of those without insurance coverage year round .
Elizabeth Haddle, site administrative director, said last week that women in the community received mammograms from a mobile unit at the Youngstown location, and on May 7 at the Wick Ave. health center, diabetes screening will be conducted from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
In addition, she said, skin cancer screenings are to take place from 5 to 7 p.m. May 10. Haddle emphasized that in the last screening, there were 12 people diagnosed with skin cancer from the nearly 60 tested.
A prenatal health fair, open to all pregnant women in the community, has been scheduled for May 17 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Additional information on the issue of the uninsured can be accessed online at www.CoverTheUninsuredWeek.org.