Men's Breakfast, June 11, 2016

The Men’s Breakfast Group met Saturday, June 11th with Vickie Anderson, director of the Brazosport Medical Center.  Vickie has worked for non-profit organizations for several years.  When she was offered the position of director of Brazosport Medical center she was glad to accept, partially because she lives in the area and the commute is much shorter.  Vickie took over from Nola Copus who was with the center when it was started by Mike Gemingnani.


The Brazosport Medical center is on Gulf Boulevard in Freeport.  It was set up to set primarily to serve low income residents in Freeport who did not have adequate access to medical services.  The center provides general medical services, dental services, vision services and mental health services.  The center acts as an office and an administrator to these services but the services are provided by independent practitioners.  This is because the center does not want to become involved with the liability of being the actual provider. 


The general medical services are provided by nurse practitioners employed by the Stephen F. Austin clinic out of Alvin.  This is a Federal qualified medical center that receives federal subsidies for treating indigent patients.  The other services are independent. 
Everyone is eligible to use these services and some members of the Men’s Breakfast group hav

e used them because of the convenience.  Payment is on a graduated scale and standard insurance and Medicare are accepted.  The center subsidizes payments for indigent patients that are not covered by insurance or federal funds.  The center has been supported by the United Way, but because it now has its own sources of funds it no longer needs United Way funds. 


The center employs about forty people including the support personnel.  Because of this they are planning on expanding by using buildings across the street and remodeling. 


The Mental Health department has a psychiatrist who works by telemedicine and mental health aides on site.  The psychiatrist can prescribe necessary drugs for patients. 
The men had an interesting discussion and a good breakfast.  The next meeting will be July 9th.