Free Clinics Need Volunteer Doctors, Nurses

Imagine being sick only to be turned away by your doctor. That's what's happening to people in Osceola County who count on two clinics that offer free health care.

Clinic managers say the demand is so high that there aren't enough doctors to go around leaving the clinics to deal with a health care crisis of their own.

GO TO: Info On How Doctors/Nurses Can Donate Time

Clinic managers are forced to turn away up to 15 patients a day. The 50 doctors who volunteer are no longer enough.

"Some of our patients haven't seen a physician in 12 to 15 years," Health Services Director Warren Hougland said.

For the unemployed and the uninsured, those clinics are the only place to turn. The Osceola Council on Aging runs two medical centers in the county that see about 50 patients a day, including mothers like Frances Camara, who has diabetes, and men like Nelson Flores, who is a carpenter on disability and uninsured.

"This is important for people who don't have insurance. It means a lot," Camara said.

"I've had two heart attacks and blockage in my chest," Flores said.

They are facing unimaginable hardships, but they're the lucky ones, the ones who did not get turned away.

"Even though we have great doctors that help us, we need more, the demand is getting higher," Hougland said.

There's a major need for specialists to donate their time and resources to the clinics and, with more people coming in, there are more cases that can't be handled in the exam rooms.

"Breast cancer, we're seeing a lot of cancer," Hougland said.

Clinic managers don't expect things to change any time soon. They've already seen more than 1,000 patients than last year.

"Our patients are the working poor. They're living paycheck to paycheck," he said.

For many, having a doctor waiting through the clinic's doors is a matter of life or death.