Live for Less: Free Clinic

ATLANTA (MyFOX ATLANTA) - Nearly one out of every five Georgians doesn't have health insurance in an uncertain economy, thousands of people may be putting off getting medical care because they can't afford it. Across the state, a network of low-cost clinics is working to help Georgians who might otherwise fall through the cracks.

Krista Kelley had a bad headache for three weeks straight.

"I've taken Tylenol and Tylenol and Tylenol, and nothing. It's not making it go away," said Kelley.

The 27-year-old single mom went to the drugstore to check her blood pressure.

"I put my arm in the blood pressure machine and it went off and the lady told me I had to leave, and go see the doctor, go to the emergency room. Right away, yeah. She was like, 'This is very serious, you need to leave right away,'" recalled Kelley.

Kelley asked McDonough firefighters to check her blood pressure again at their stationhouse convinced that the reading she received from the blood pressure machine was wrong.

The second reading also revealed that the pressure inside Kelley's arteries was deadly high.

"They were putting me in the back of an ambulance, wanting to take me to the emergency room and [they] made me sign a waiver saying I refused to, because I don't have medical insurance and that's just way too expensive."

A firefighter who was worried about Kelley's health told the single mother to call "Hands of Hope," a charity clinic near Henry Medical Center. The clinic took Kelley in right away.

"In a young person, pressure like that, you can have a stroke," said Dr. David Humphries of Hands of Hope.

Dr. Humphries is a retired orthopedic surgeon who now acts as the medical director for Hands of Hope.

Dr. Humphries said Kelley is a lot like many of the patients he sees. Kelley has a job, but no health insurance and can't afford to pay for insurance on her salary.

"We're talking $300 a month and $300 is groceries, or car insurance, [a] phone bill, or [a] light bill," said Kelley.

"The name of the game is to get as many people as we can see patched up enough, stabilized enough that they don't end up in the hospital emergency room trying to act like that's their primary care doctor," said Dr. Humphries.

A few exits up Interstate 75 in Morrow, the Good Shepherd Clinic serves Clayton County, which has a 10 percent unemployment rate, the highest in Metro Atlanta.

"There's more and more, more calls. We just can't keep up with the growing demand," said Lisa Page of the Good Shepherd Clinic.

Elijah Porter, an uninsured brick mason, said he too, had deadly high blood pressure, when he went to the Good Shepherd Clinic four years ago.

"They helped me out a whole lot. They really, saved me, I'd say, saved my life," said Porter

The Good Shepherd Clinic and Hands of Hope health centers can only see residents of the county and patients who earn below 200 percent of the federal poverty level and have no health insurance.

People can go to the Georgia Free Clinic Network's website, http://gfcn.org/ , plug in their zip code and the site will find the low-cost health clinics in their area. There are more than 100 low-cost clinics across the state of Georgia.

"You talk to some of these people and you see we are the stopgap. If we didn't provide medication, they wouldn't have any medication," said page.

There is a wait to get in to see a doctor at one of the low-cost clinics. There is a two month wait at Hands of Hope and a three month wait at Good Shepherd. There is a wait at the clinics because they are in need of volunteer doctors to treat patients and they're not getting nearly enough of them.

Volunteer Dr. Debra Honeycutt said more physicians would help Good Shepherd see more patients like Teresa Stroud, who suffers from problems with her liver and seizures. The clinic only asks for four hours a month.

"In the evening. In the afternoon. It doesn't make any difference, we don't care. Give us four hours of your life a month, you would be surprised how much you will help others during that time and how much gratification you will get from helping others," said Dr. Honeycutt.

Back in Stockbridge, Kelley said she was hopeful medication could get her blood pressure back down and she was grateful that when she needed help most, Hands of Hope opened its arms.