This is the first in a series of articles examining the looming crisis in our health-care system.

-Today, the Connecticut Post looks at the uninsured and health-care fairs designed to help them.
The past few years have been tough for Bob Montini. The 48-year-old Ansonia man has been in and out of work for almost five years and, as a result, hasn't had any health insurance.

He recently began working for a construction firm, and will be eligible for insurance in a few months. Montini said he's been lucky that he hasn't had any major health problems in the meantime, although some neck injuries landed him in the hospital a couple of times.

Still, when he saw a flier for a free health fair at the Salvation Army in Ansonia, he saw it as an opportunity to take inventory of his well-being. "I was in the neighborhood and thought it would be a good idea," said Montini.

The fair, which took place Tuesday, was sponsored by Valley Project Access, a partnership of more than 60 members, including Valley physicians, Griffin Hospital in Derby and Hill Health Center in Ansonia. The initiative started last year to provide health care to low-income, uninsured residents of the Lower Naugatuck Valley.

The event, which included blood pressure and diabetes screening and various health information sessions, was conducted to mark Cover the Uninsured Week, which is actually next week. The national event

Advertisement
mobilizes business owners, physicians, educators and others to help the uninsured through health fairs, enrollment drives and other activities.

In Connecticut, 6 percent, or roughly 200,000 people, don't have health insurance, either because they are between jobs or have jobs that don't provide health-care benefits. Nationally, about 45 million Americans lack health insurance coverage.

Hospital officials say uninsured patients place a strain on the health-care system. Often, they end up in the emergency room for treatment they can't afford to pay for elsewhere.

According to the American College of Emergency Physicians, uninsured patients are hospitalized 50 percent more than other patients for problems that could have been prevented with routine treatment.

At another health-care fair — this one at Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport last week — Elizabeth Rodriguez, 21, of Milford, a certified nurse's aide and HCC student, checked out the displays.

Rodriguez said she was interested in exploring health-care options because in a year she will no longer be covered under her parents' insurance, and will need to find her own.

"I definitely need health-care [coverage]," she said. "I get sick frequently."

Last June, she had her gall bladder removed, and she's asthmatic. Rodriguez said she's already been warned by family members about the high cost of insurance. "I know that prices are ridiculous, and that co-pays are outrageous," she lamented.

Another HCC student, Anthonia Oladeinde, 29, visited the fair in Bridgeport because, until recently, she was unemployed and had no health insurance. Because of that, the immigrant from Nigeria said she doesn't visit the doctor's office regularly. She said she wasn't too concerned, however, because "I'm not the kind of person who's sick often."

Back at the Ansonia health fair, Valley Project Access Director Susan Rosen said that part of the event's purpose was to let those in the Valley without insurance know that they don't have to deny themselves health care.

"A lot of people don't know about the health services that are available to them," she said. For instance, Rosen said, many of the nearly 40 people who showed up at the health screening were given information about Hill Health, a federally qualified health center that provides health services to the uninsured on a sliding scale, depending on an individual's income.

The project also recently started offering a discount prescription drug card, called the Physician's RX Care Card, provided through the national organization Physician Leadership Access Network. The group claims the card can save patients an average of 15 percent on brand-name drugs and 46 percent on generic drugs.

Montini said that fairs such as the one he attended are a good idea for people who don't have insurance, but want to take care of themselves. "There are services people may or may not be aware of," he said. "Or people may be sick and not know it."

Though prostate cancer screening wasn't offered at the fair, Montini hopes to get checked out once his insurance kicks in. His father died from the disease.

But not all who came to the fair were uninsured. Barbara Merritt, 44, of Ansonia, has insurance, but attends health fairs regularly because they're a nice, easy way to make sure that she's in good condition, she said.

"Everybody needs to have [these screenings] done in order to stay healthy," she said.

For information about Hill Health Center, 126 Wakelee Ave., Ansonia, call the center's patient advocate at 503-3586. To make an appointment for primary care, call 503-3570.