Blanco visits Franklin clinic

Calling it a model for health care, Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Teche Action Clinic in Franklin is “just what the doctor ordered for Louisiana,” particularly in the wake of the 2005 hurricane season.

The governor toured the clinic’s Weber Street facility Thursday.

The visit included an up-close look at the facility’s newest acquisition: A $175,000 Prato Robotic System that fills 110 medical prescriptions per hour. The robot is used to fill prescriptions for all four of the clinic’s regional operations.

In all, Teche Action Clinic includes four federally funded centers, which provide health care to low-income and medically underserved state residents. Two sites are located in Terrebonne Parish n on West Tunnel Boulevard in Houma and Mozart Drive in Ashland n and a third is located on East Third Street in Edgard.

The Edgard clinic serves both St. John and St. James parishes.

The combined patient load of all four clinics combined is just shy of 15,001, according to officials.

Chief Executive and Medical Officer of the clinics, Dr. Gary Wiltz, said it’s Teche’s policy to never turn a patient away, regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay for medical services rendered.

With a $2 million federal grant, the clinics are able to serve the various parishes, he said.

Blanco had high praise for Wiltz, a New Orleans native who has been working at the clinic since the mid-1970s.

“With so many hospital beds and health centers in New Orleans, it is just remarkable to see the kind of services this center provides,” she said after the tour. “I’ve always heard of Dr. Wiltz and his work… bit I really think he’s hit the thing on the head after seeing [the robotic drug dispenser] moving health care forward into the future in this area and, frankly, where it should be statewide.”

Acknowledging the shortage or, in some places, lack of health care, Blanco said the state requested emergency funding for hospitals, more health workers and mental health in early 2006. As of last week, the governor said Louisiana has received 45 percent of the $175 million requested.

Blanco said there has been a disparity in how the federal government has allocated in Louisiana compared to Mississippi.

“Ninety-seven percent of our [hospital] beds were closed, and we received $72 million. In Mississippi, three percent of their beds were closed and they received $61 million. Now I ask you, ‘Did Louisiana get its fair share?,” she said.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita ravaged the state’s Charity health care system, leaving southern Louisiana medical providers overburdened with patients and many citizens without health care options.

One area hardest hit after the Charity system’s closure has been mental health, Wiltz said. In New Orleans, for instance, there are no beds available for psychiatric services.

“Health care systems in Louisiana were somewhat broken before Katrina,” he said. “Unfortunately, Katrina and Rita made things worse.”

Teche Action Clinic has been serving the Franklin area for the last 33 years.

A board of directors, comprised of community volunteers, governs the board. However, 51 percent of the membership is made up of client users.

Teche Action Clinic is Louisiana’s first community health center to receive accreditation by the Joint Commission Accreditation of HealthCare Organizations. It was awarded in 1999.

Among the services the clinics offer are: primary care, obstetrics and gynecology, family medicine, general dentistry, dental hygiene services, specialty referrals, family planning, health maintenance, medication management, immunizations, school and sports physicals, WIC, behavioral and mental health services, KidMed, pharmacy services, diagnostic services, and treatment diabetes management.

“Offering free medicine is one of the final components we do here n our heart and soul, so to speak, of completing our health care service,’ Wiltz said.

Teche Action continues to strive to provide cutting edge services, he said. The addition of robotic pharmacy system enables the Franklin center to fill doctor’s scripts at all four clinics.

“Before the robot, we were filling 500 prescriptions a day,” the CEO explained. “Last year, we filled $1.6 million in prescriptions, and that was just with the help of the Pfizer Pharmaceutical Corporation.”

Staff photo by HOWARD J. CASTAY JR. • Tri-Parish Times * Dr. Gary Wiltz, CEO and medical officer of Teche Action Clinic, explains the Prato Robotic System to Gov. Kathleen Blanco during a tour of the Franklin facility on Thursday. The $175,000 system is able over 110 medical prescriptions hourly for all four of Teche Action Clinic’s area facilities.