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Central Florida nonprofit clinic overwhelmed by hurricane victims seeking care

A Central Florida health clinic organization says it has seen a serious uptick in visits from Hurricane Maria victims who have fled from Puerto Rico to Florida.
Shepherd’s Hope is a faith-based, nonprofit organization that provides health care for uninsured and underinsured Floridians.
Since Oct. 4, the five clinics run by the organization have seen 200 more patients than they normally do, CEO Marni Stahlman said.
“They are stepping off after a traumatic experience and they are trying to navigate in a system that’s not exactly the easiest,” she said. “They are handicapped, possibly, by language, by logistics and vicinity, and understanding the rules and processes of how different things and mechanisms work.”
After living in Puerto Rico for 27 years, Carmen Perez moved to Central Florida after Hurricane Maria.
When she got here, she was having medical issues and after several trips to the emergency room, she was told she needed to find a primary care doctor.
“I decided to move for my health,” she said. “I didn’t want it to get worse.
“I couldn’t lift my leg. It’s OK now. I don’t know what happened and they told me that I can’t use the emergency (room).”
Although Shepherd’s Hope clinics staffs are stretched thin, no one will be turned away, Stahlman said.
“The first thing that we can do is to make sure that you are healthy, and if you are not, make sure that you get the mechanisms and means to get healthy,” she said.
Karen Parks

Karen Parks, WFTV.com

Karen Parks is a reporter at WFTV.