McKinney, Texas, clinic to offer health care to children in need. - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

By Linda Stewart Ball, The Dallas Morning News Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Aug. 2--McKINNEY, Texas -- Mary Nelle Cummins had a dream: that one day children from low-income families in the McKinney area would have free access to basic health care.

Few who knew the longtime member of First United Methodist Church of McKinney doubted her vision in 1999.

Thanks to many donations of medical equipment, time and talent, Mrs. Cummins' dream will come true today, when the doors to the Children and Community Health Center of McKinney open.

Uninsured patients will be treated on a first come, first-served basis two nights a week at the volunteer center.

The clinic is in the Westpark campus building (the old Wysong hospital) at Virginia Parkway and Central Expressway. It's housed in a 1,400-square-foot space that North Central Medical Center leases to the Children and Community Health Center for $1 a year.

In June, administrators at the hospital began refusing to provide follow-up care and tests for some of Collin County's poorest residents - those covered by the county's indigent insurance program.

Mrs. Cummins said she is grateful the hospital has come to her center's aid.

'This has allowed us to open much quicker than we would have been able to otherwise,' she said. 'We're very excited. It's coming about. I never really doubted it would open. I just can't believe it's here.'

The free health center was designed for the working poor - those who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid or other government assistance but not enough to afford private health insurance.

For the first two months, it will serve only children, with hopes of expanding services to uninsured adults in October, organizers said. To qualify, patients must be able to prove they are Collin County residents, although U.S. citizenship is not required.

A similar program in Plano has seen many patients traveling from McKinney.

Plano Children's Medical Clinic served about 8,000 uninsured children at its immunization and evening clinic last year and 12,000 others who had publicly funded insurance.

'I'm very pleased they've done their homework and know what they're getting into,' said Susan Shuler, executive director of Plano Children's Medical Clinic.

Community health center officials estimate that there are 58,000 people in the McKinney area without health insurance. That group includes those without employer-provided coverage, day laborers, chronically unemployed and laid-off workers, and undocumented immigrants who could be eligible for services at the clinic.

'I was blown away,' said Randy Straach, a health care management planner who did the needs assessment for the center.

'Here I'd been living here and didn't realize there was such a dramatic difference' between northern and southern Collin County. McKinney, as whole, has a very high average family household income of about $74,000, yet 28 percent of those northern Collin County families are below the federal poverty level and are basically eligible for clinic services, he said.

Mr. Straach, a health center vice president, said once people become aware of the situation, they've been eager to assist.

'It's just been amazing,' said Mrs. Cummins, president of the center's 15-member board. 'Every time we've had a need, we've just turned around, and it has been answered.'

As a result, the clinic has five furnished and equipped examination rooms.

Organizers said that with the exception of cleaning supplies and a few other items, everything has been donated or provided for free.

But they still need donations to help cover the cost of prescription medicines.

'We really do see the need,' said Christopher Lawrence, a primary care physician who often treats those without health insurance at his McKinney office.

He said he started to get involved with Plano-area Interfaith's effort to get county funding for a clinic a few years ago, but that 'never got off the ground.'

'So whenever Mary Nelle came around, I jumped in with both feet,' said Dr. Lawrence, who is now the health center's volunteer medical director.

He said 15 primary care doctors and pediatricians have signed on to serve the clinic, and he hopes another 15 will soon be on board. The goal is to have doctors volunteering for three hours once every eight weeks.

'This started with a dream, and now here's a reality starting [today],' Dr. Lawrence said.

The clinic is open from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Monday and Wednesday. Services are available to children 18 and younger. For information, call 972-547-0606.

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