Serving low-income people in need

By Laura Raines

For ajcjobs

Grace Newsome, 61, knows what its like to work hard and still need a little help.

Barry Williams, Special Grace Newsome
, Appalachian Nurse Practitioner Clinic

Related

• Profiles of the other winners

“I was raised on a farm with a bunch of kids,” said Newsome, founder of the Appalachian Nurse Practitioner Clinic and a professor at North Georgia College & State University in Dahlonega. “I wanted to be a nurse, but my family didn’t have the resources to send me to school. With a couple of small scholarships, I was able to get into the Piedmont Hospital diploma program.”

Working her way to earn advanced degrees to become a nurse practitioner and educator, while raising three children, Newsome has never stopped giving back to her patients, students or her profession.

Her work with the Appalachian Nurse Practitioner Clinic is just one example of that commitment.

“This clinic, which was a vision of Dr. Newsome, provides health care to hundreds of families who lost their insurance,” NGCSU nursing department chair Toni Barnett wrote in her nomination.

Previously, many of these people went without primary care and ended up in the emergency room when they had a health crisis.

Newsome wrote the initial $1.3 million Health Resources and Services Administration grant that equipped the clinic, and convinced university administrators that it could work by showing them a nurse-run clinic on a college campus in Tennessee. She also recruited the nursing faculty and nursing students who run it.

“I had no idea what I was getting into,” said Newsome, who works tirelessly to write grants, secure medications and find specialists willing to treat patients for free. “It takes a lot of behind-the-scenes effort, but we have always just moaned and groaned and moved forward.”

When it opened in January 2007, the clinic operated two days a week, charging $10 a visit (or nothing). Today, the clinic operates five days a week and has opened satellite locations in Dawsonville, Cleveland and White County.

“We’ve seen 4,000 to 5,000 patients since we started and helped about 1,500 of those manage their chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension,” she said.

Newsome’s goal is to establish the clinic as an official community health center and gain “meaningful use status,” which would bring third-party reimbursement and would make the clinic self-sustaining.

“About 70 percent of our patients work, but most make minimum wage,” Newsome said. “About 30 percent are unemployed, but don’t qualify for Medicaid or Medicare.

“We’ve seen a lot more patients since the recession started. These are hard-working people who can’t afford health care. I’m happy to walk alongside them. It’s a great satisfaction to be able to do something for them.”