JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – If you are among the thousands of people who have felt the money crunch during the coronavirus pandemic, you might find yourself unable to pay for necessities like health care.
A local nonprofit is here to help.
Free health care
Volunteers in Medicine (VIM) has provided free medical care for people like Betty Jordan, who works part-time at a Jacksonville laundromat so she can raise her 12-year-old twins.
“I’ve had the children since they were 2 months old,” Jordan explains. “They were placed with me in emergency placement, and it’s been a blessing. They’ve been the greatest thing that ever happened in my life.”
Jordan and her children have made it through some tough days, including her daughter’s cancer diagnosis at just 1-year-old.
Jordan shaved her head to help ease her daughter’s angst when she lost her hair during cancer treatments.
Her daughter is now cancer-free, and fortunately, through the adoption, Jordan explains, her kids’ health care is paid for by Medicaid.
But as a part-time employee, Jordan makes too much money to qualify for federal aid for her own health care, but her paychecks aren’t enough to cover the costs.
“When I got sick, I’d go to the hospital and get this outrageous bill I couldn’t pay,” Jordan said as she describes how she juggled her own medical care. “Usually they give me asprin and sent me home, so they never really addressed the issues I was having.”
Jordan said it was a godsend to learn about the organization VIM, which provides free medical services for the working uninsured.
“I’ve been [using them] so long,” Jordan laughs, “they joke about my file; it takes two of the nurses to carry it where it needs to go.”
At VIM, local doctors, nurses, and others share their time and expertise helping working families with everything from regular checkups to prescriptions to diagnoses.
“I do believe if I wouldn’t have found [VIM], I might be dead today because I had some serious issues that they took care of right there,” Jordan said, smiling.
Free mental health services
Eight years ago, the nonprofit added mental health services, and it said the demand for those services has mushroomed during the coronavirus pandemic.
“I’ve noticed that people [are] needing more care,” says Cheryl Walker, a mental health therapist who works with VIM. “If you were seeing people two weeks to a month out, now they’re really needing weekly [sessions].”
Walker said the clientele is also changing.
“I see more men now than I used to see,” she said. “It used to be more women that would reach out for help, but I think men are realizing they can use this help as well.”
Local husband and father Edward Colleton is among the men receiving therapy from VIM.
He said during the COVID-19 pandemic, he was tired and aching, losing weight, going blind and didn’t know why -- and couldn’t afford medical care to find out.
“You know you’re ill, but you got to keep functioning because I have a family,” Colleton explained.
When the pandemic closed offices across the area, it left no clients for his janitorial business.
Meanwhile, his wife, Aury, was battling medical issues of her own, which included no follow-up care for cancer treatments when she started earning too much money to keep qualifying for Medicaid while working at an area debt collection agency.
“It’s probably been about a good nine, 10 years,” she said when asked how long since her last check-up. “You just feel helpless. And you know that every time you go to the doctor, it’s a huge bill. We just reserved that for emergencies.”
When a friend told the couple about VIM, that medical help came just in time.
Colleton said he was mentally preparing for his own death.
“I was extremely ill,” he quietly recalled.
Through simple bloodwork, a doctor with VIM diagnosed Colleton’s Type-2 diabetes.
“They said I probably had it for years,” Colleton said, “but we didn’t have insurance, so I was just toughing it out.”
The same doctor recommended Colleton see a therapist to treat his mental state as his body healed.
Colleton describeed his depression.
“No, I don’t want to kill myself, but then sometimes you look at your life when it’s really tough [and] say, ‘I don’t want to continue to keep living because where’s the joy in it?’ It’s depression. It’s, ‘I don’t feel good mentally, but I’m still alive and I’m going to still keep going because this is what has to be done.’“
“Any kind of adjustment [like] kids going off to college, moving, illnesses,” mental health therapist Cheryl Walker said, “illnesses cause a lot of mental illness too because [people are] dealing with a lot of medical concerns that are out of their control.”
Walker, who treats people seeking mental health help at VIM, said the coronavirus pandemic has helped show that the same important care can be conducted remotely.
“Some people want in-person [care] and they need that connection, they need to feel the energy in the room,” Walker said of the varying treatments. “Some people are fine and [say] let’s do it telehealth.”
To find out if you qualify for free health services, or if you would like to volunteer with VIM, visit their website for contact information.