Editors’ note: The primary source in this story — named as “the physician” — requested anonymity from the writer because he claims his presence would be an unduly influence on the grants being proposed.
A local physician is involving the Gainesville City Commission in his fight to secure transportation for safety-net clinic patients.
The safety-net clinics offer medical care for underserved residents, but they often have trouble getting there. The Relief & Assistance for Humanity by Muslim Americans Mercy Clinic, 5220 SW 13th St., and the Westside Samaritan Clinic, 10000 W. Newberry Road, are two of the clinics not serviced by RTS bus routes.
“We have patients that walk a mile and a half to get medical service,” said Brenda Belote, the volunteer director of operations at Westside Samaritan Clinic. “One night we had a gentlemen get to the clinic about an hour late. He was apologizing all over the place, and he said, ‘I had no clue it was that far.’ He was walking on crutches to get here.”
Most of the clinics use Solstas Lab Partners behind the North Florida Regional Medical Center, where the nearest bus stop is a quarter of a mile away.
“We are a city agency, and the locations of the two clinics are outside of our current service area and outside of the city limits,” said RTS spokesman Chip Skinner.
He said one of the issues in funding routes to the clinics is the location of the Americans with Disabilities Act service area, which is approximately an additional quarter mile outside of RTS’s fixed route service. If RTS were to extend these routes, it would cause problems with the ADA service area.
“So that’s really the issue: They’re outside the city limits; it would expand our ADA service area, and ultimately it’s about our funding,” Skinner said.
The Safety Net Clinic Collaborative determined that transportation is a key deterrent to patients obtaining adequate medical care, the physician said. He applied for a $3,000 grant to offset the copay that patients are required to pay every time they ride shuttles through MV Transportation.
Jeffrey Hays, the Alachua County Growth Management transportation planning manager, said the department is working on a sidewalk project for behind North Regional.
Many of the streets behind the hospital are privately owned, and the clinics are not in a location for bus routes to be convenient, Hays said.
“The issues are very understandable,” RAHMA Mercy Clinic Coordinator Livia Sura said.
The physician said there are 11 safety-net clinics in Alachua County. Some of the clinics are well-funded, have nice facilities and are open 40 hours weekly. But others suffer with tight budgets, operate in limited space and are only open one day a week.
“No two clinics are alike,” he said. “But one thing’s for sure — there will never be enough of these.”
