PUBLIC HEALTH CENTER FOR ADULTS TO OPEN

Thanks to the effort of three determined women, uninsured patients who used to seek medical care in emergency rooms will see a family doctor Monday morning.

The health department administrators in Cape Girardeau, Bollinger and Stoddard counties joined forces two years ago, noticing that adults with ailments like sore throats and earaches acquired their family doctors through emergency rooms. Trying to call and make an appointment with a doctor didn't work.

They decided these people -- along with Medicaid and Medicare recipients, the working poor and the underinsured -- needed primary care physicians, not emergency room visits. They set about securing a grant to set up Cross Trails Medical Centers, non-profit clinics in three counties.

The administrators wanted about $500,000 from the public health arm of the federal government but received $300,000. Another $100,000 came from other grants, and Charlotte Craig, Cape Girardeau County Health Department administrator, said $400,000 was enough to start.

The $300,000 grant will be reissued for two more years, but Craig doesn't expect it to end there. Eventually, Cross Trails clinics should become relatively self-supporting, with Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements, sliding fee scales and private insurance.

Cape Girardeau County's clinic is in the basement of the county health department, 1121 Linden. Beginning Monday, several physicians from Regional Primary Care Inc. will rotate to serve about 20 patients a day.

In Bollinger County, Dr. John Englehart's office will double as a Cross Trails site, and Dr. Melody Armstrong will join his practice in December.

Stoddard County doesn't have a site or any doctors yet, but health department administrator Debbie Pleimling said she hopes to obtain at least one through the National Health Service. It is a program that loans money to medical students, who later pay it back by working in public health.

Vicki Smith, formerly St. Joseph's public health administrator, will oversee the Cross Trails program. At a press conference Thursday announcing the clinic's opening, she said she was recruiting nurse practitioners and physician assistants to work at Cross Trails in all three counties.

"We feel we will be swamped very shortly after we open our doors," Smith said. "But we look forward to that."

Children already may receive treatment at the pediatric primary care clinic in the Cape Girardeau County Health Department.