Medical center helping rural communities receive medical care

ERIE COUNTY, Ohio — A health care agency in downtown Sandusky recently opened its newest location. The mission of Family Health Services is to serve all members of the community, especially low-income patients who are in need of health care resources.

The medical center recently received a $1.1 million federal grant to continue helping its growing number of patients. They currently serve over 16,000 patients in Northeast Ohio.

“I don’t feel like a number,” said patient Cora Higgins.

Higgins visits family health services for all of her medical needs after she had difficulty finding appropriate medical care in the area.

“I called three other places first; the first one did not answer my phone call. The second one was planning a two to four month delay, and then I called here and found someone who treated me like a human being,” Higgins said.

Family Health Services CEO and President David Tatro says the area is a health desert.

Although Northeast Ohio is home to several hospital systems, not everyone can find care close to home. In 2021, a third of Americans lived in counties that lacked adequate access to things like pharmacies, primary care physicians and hospitals, according to a Good Rx report.

In Erie County, eight percent of people lived 20 minutes or more from an affordable health care center.

“Several things were missing in Erie and Huron counties and surrounding areas. If you were a Medicaid patient, you could not see a dentist; they would not be available because private practices cannot afford to accept Medicaid or Medicare patients. That’s why we built a fully operational dental clinic in Huron and Erie counties,” Tatro said.

Another major problem they found was that 51% of community members in Sandusky and surrounding areas do not have regular access to a vehicle.

“So we’ve done a transportation initiative, and one of the things we offer here to the patients that we see is we’ll pick them up, take them here and take them home.” – said Tatro.

Family health services include not only primary care, but also dental, behavioral health, and on-site pharmacy and nutrition services. Tatro says 21% of Sandusky’s population can’t afford quality food.

“Many of the reasons people come to Family Health Services are related to behavioral health issues. They eat too much, drink too much, smoke too much. So we have a food medicine program where our doctors can write a prescription for food and teach them what’s healthy to eat. The Food is Medicine program targets people with hypertension, diabetes and obesity,” Tatro said.

The medical center says the new funding will go toward improving treatment for mental health and substance use disorders.

“This stigma has only gotten worse over the past few years, and the best part is that the stigma is subsiding. So people are looking for more and more help, but there aren’t many providers locally,” said Director of Integrated Health Care Renee Leber.

Funds will be used to train staff on how to work with people with substance use and mental health disorders, purchase updated screening tools and hire local health workers to provide case management services.

“It’s exciting because it will open so many doors (and) help so many more people, and we are known for providing good care and meeting patients where they are,” Leber said.