BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

INEZ — Registered nurse Lakean Meade served as guest speaker for the Kiwanis Club luncheon Thursday at Giovanni’s in Inez. Meade, who grew up in Inez and has worked at the Martin County Health Department for a year and a half, detailed new partnerships and programs that bring vital women’s health care services closer to home for county residents.

“Recently we have partnered with ARH to bring women’s care back to Martin County,” Meade said, noting that 1991 was the last year the health department offered OB/GYN services. “It’s been a long time,” she added.

The ARH mobile unit now visits the health department once a month, with its next visit scheduled for Nov. 4. Aboard the mobile clinic, Dr. Tina Gaunt, OB/GYN, provides services that include annual well-woman exams, cervical cancer screenings, cholesterol and diabetes screenings, and prenatal care.

To illustrate the value of local care, Meade shared her own experience as a mother.

“I delivered my last child at King’s Daughters,” she said. “It took an hour to drive there, then I would sit in the office for two or three hours. By the time I got out of there, it was like an all-day event. So if I could have gone right in town five minutes from my house, I would have absolutely taken up on that.”

Kiwanis member Pam Ward asked if there was an income requirement.

“They do take insurance,” Meade said. “They can tell you more about the insurance that they take. I know they take Medicaid, private insurance and Medicare. I think they take everything.”

Club president Melissa Phelps asked if the service was free.

“It is not free,” Meade replied. “I think if you pay cash it is only about $77. So it’s not terrible if you do pay cash.”

The ARH clinic also offers free flu shots.

“At the health department, we don’t do private insurance,” Meade explained. “So if you know someone who has private insurance, who needs their flu shot, they can come to the mobile clinic and get it for free, even with insurance.”

Appointments are not required.

“You can walk in,” said Meade. “Even for a well-woman exam, you can walk in. It makes things easier if you schedule ahead, but they do take walk-ins. Anybody can walk in anytime that they are there.”

Meade noted that Dr. Gaunt delivers babies at Pikeville and Prestonsburg hospitals for women who receive prenatal care through the mobile clinic.

“We’re super excited to have this,” said Meade. “It’s really important for Martin County. We don’t want to see people dying from cancer that can be prevented with these easy little screenings. Having it so close to home means people don’t have to drive to Ashland or even Prestonsburg, which makes a difference. For people who work, it’s hard to take time off for appointments. If they have kids and have to take off for their kids’ appointments, it’s even harder.”

Meade said many parents must choose between taking off work for themselves or their children.

“They’re going to take off for their kids,” she said. “With this being in the county, they can just run down on their lunch break.”

Phelps noted that the clinic would greatly benefit individuals without transportation for out-of-county appointments.

For more convenience, Meade said, patients needing help on days when the clinic is not present can contact the health department.

“If you can’t get a hold of them, we can get a hold of them and get your questions answered for you, get you on the schedule,” she said. “If you try to schedule with ARH and you can’t reach them or you have trouble, let us know. We can call and schedule for you.”

When asked about mammograms, Meade said ARH’s mobile clinic does not perform them. However, the UK King’s Daughters mobile mammography unit visits the health department every three months, with the next visit planned for after the new year.

“We had to cancel the last clinic because we didn’t have enough [participants],” Meade said.

Phelps shared her positive experience with the UK King’s Daughters mobile mammography clinic in Prestonsburg. “It’s really easy to hop into a nice RV where they have everything,” she said. “I was just in and out. It took me longer to drive to Prestonsburg than it took for the appointment.”

Meade told Kiwians that success with the ARH mobile clinic could lead to additional specialty care in Martin County.

“We want to bring as much as we can to our people,” she said. “We want Martin County to be healthy and to stay up to date on exams and prevent these diseases that we can absolutely prevent.”

Diabetes programs

Phelps shifted the discussion to the health department’s diabetes programs.

“I know you aren’t here to talk about the diabetes program,” she said, “but since you are here and we have people here who have diabetes, that’s a program you offer and you run, right?”

Meade confirmed that the department offers both a diabetes prevention program and a diabetes self-management program.

“Diabetes prevention is for people who are pre-diabetic,” she explained. “Anyone who is 18 or older and overweight qualifies for diabetes prevention.”

The prevention program is entirely online, allowing participants to log in and complete lessons on their own schedule.

“You can watch those videos, do your lessons on your own time,” Meade said. “It doesn’t have to be a certain day of the week; you have the full week. Videos upload on Monday, and you have until the following Monday to get it done. And you don’t have to do it all at once. If you want to start in the morning while drinking your coffee and finish it later while you’re at lunch, you can do that.”

The self-management program takes place in person at the health department, where Meade facilitates sessions conducted remotely by a partner health department.

“I’ve done two classes so far and had six for both classes,” she said. “They absolutely loved it. Most of them have had diabetes for 20–30 years. Most of them are not new diabetics. And with every single class, they say, ‘I learned something new today. No one ever told me that.’”

Sessions last for two hours, during which Meade provides diabetes-friendly snacks and giveaways, including $100 gift cards for those who complete the program. She announces new class dates in the newspaper and on the health department’s Facebook page, and personally calls people who have expressed interest.

Other programs

Phelps asked about additional programs.

“I’m in the clinic,” Meade said, mentioning clinic services such as flu shots, child immunizations, WIC, STD testing, needle exchange, harm reduction and tobacco cessation program.

“We’re hoping to get the patches back in the tobacco program for anyone who wants to quit smoking so that we can give them free patches,” she said, adding that the service is available to everyone.

The health department also provides family planning via telehealth, allowing patients to receive birth control prescriptions through their pharmacy without visiting the clinic.

Flu shots are available for anyone.

“We don’t take private insurance yet,” Meade said. “We’re working on that. I think [the flu shot] is $25 if you have private insurance that we don’t take.”

Oral health access

Prompted by questions from Kiwanis Club members, Meade discussed efforts to expand oral care, noting that the health department offers a fluoride varnish program for children and is working with Big Sandy Health Care to arrange mobile dental visits.

“I think they are booked out for a year right now,” she said. “That’s an issue that everybody is having … We’ve been searching high and low. It is something everybody needs. We’ve had people come in and say, ‘I’m in pain,’ trying to get in somewhere, not just for a cleaning, but they’re in pain, and it’s still three or four months.”

Kiwanis member Norma McCormick said UK’s dental clinic accepts walk-ins for emergencies.

Ward added that Big Sandy Community & Technical College’s dental assisting and hygiene program offers walk-in dental services on Wednesdays and Thursdays at the East Kentucky Oral Health Training Center on the Mayo Campus, 513 Third Street in Paintsville.

“They do X-rays and everything,” Ward said.

Phelps shared her own experience there.

“I had my most thorough cleaning at BSCTC,” she said.

According to BSCTC, the care cost for dental exam, cleaning, X-rays and fluoride treatment is $30 for ages 14–59, $20 for seniors 60 and older and children 13 and under, and free for BSCTC students. The contact number is (606) 788-2836.

“That’s awesome,” Meade said. “I’m glad you told me that. I’ll start referring people.”

Diabetes symposium

Meade announced that the Big Sandy Diabetes Coalition will host a diabetes symposium from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 6 at the Collier Center in Martin County. The event will include vendors, foot exams, diabetic eye exams, cooking demonstrations with take-home ingredients, mobile dental services, A1C and cholesterol screenings, prizes and giveaways.

“Everything is free,” she said. “It’s going to be good. We’ve been planning it for a while.”

Ward commended the health department’s growing reach.

“It’s impressive that we have so many things available now that were not available three or four years ago,” she said.