A report by University of Georgia researchers shows that an Athens-area charitable health clinic is helping to reduce the number of unnecessary ER visits. The report examined 185 new patients who began receiving health care from the Mercy Health Center from Feb. 1 to July 31, 2015, and continued to do so for at least…
This is the ninth in a series of articles reported in Northwest Georgia, an area rich in stories about unmet health needs and about people and programs making a difference. Georgia Health News and the health and medical journalism graduate program at UGA Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication collaborated to produce this series, made possible…
Harold Weber is what’s known as a navigator. He has been helping people choose the right health insurance plan since 2013, when the Affordable Care Act went into effect. Working out of the Athens Neighborhood Health Center, he estimates that he has steered about 1,400 people through the complexities of the federal health insurance exchange…
Debra Wood went to the emergency room four years ago because her abdomen was swollen and acutely painful. That led to a 12-day stay in the hospital. While she was there, she also learned that she had diabetes. Wood had no health insurance at the time, and after being discharged she was bombarded with hospital…