Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Rotary members hear helath care proposals at meeting

Representative Tommy Roebuck told Rotarians at a May meeting that Arkansas health care is going to have to get less emergency room oriented for those making a low income.

"Arkansas is 47th out of 50 states in preventive health care," Roebuck said.

"We need health clinics on a more widespread basis to treat those with no money before their conditions become acute and expensive at an emergency room."

Roebuck said people with no money who get sick in Arkansas have very little choice but to go to the emergency room only after their condition has gotten so bad they can no longer live with it.

"This is an expensive way to treat people and it is hazardous to the health of each citizen that poverty forces to take this action," Roebuck said.

"The Arkansas health care system is simply going the wrong way."

Roebuck said Arkansas citizens between 19 and 64 are the target group for poor health care in an emergency room setting.

"They know emergency rooms in public hospitals have to take them when they are real sick. But taxpayers, who can afford to use traditional doctors, are the ones paying for this health care for the most part."

Roebuck said the closest free health clinic to Gurdon is in Amity. He said there needs to be one in both Gurdon and in Arkadelphia.

He said half of the working families in Clark County make less than the federal poverty level guidelines.

"We must implement some system of health care to treat the early stages of disease for those now forced to wait and head to the emergency room," he said.

"Otherwise, health care in this state will continue to get worse and more costly each year."

Roebuck said shutting down the Gurdon Hospital, the Prescott Hospital and other community oriented facilities in Arkansas "was a bad mistake and continues to cost the taxpayer through emergency room indigent care bills."