Accommodating disabled patients
Nonprofit to offer health care many providers avoid
“It sometimes requires patience to serve this population, and some general health care providers, they don’t have the time or sometimes even the desire to do that.” Patrick Maynard, President and CEO of I Am Boundles
As president and CEO of I Am Boundless, a Worthington-based nonprofit group serving developmentally and intellectually disabled people, Patrick Maynard has heard his share of sad stories.
“A couple months ago, a mother called me and described how she had called a local dentist to make an appointment for her son,” Maynard said.
The woman was proceeding through all the questions with the scheduler, he said, and then she mentioned, “Well, my son has autism and he has some behaviors, but I’ll be there, so it will be OK.”
There was a pause on the other end of the line. “And then the lady said, `You know, maybe you should go somewhere else. We’re not able to handle that here.’”
That was the tip of the iceberg, Maynard said, when it came to hearing about clients’ difficulties accessing health care.
So Maynard and I Am Boundless decided to do something about it. Beginning later this month, a newly formed Boundless Health will welcome patients to the Worthington campus for primary care, dental and pharmacy needs.
Currently, I Am Boundless focuses largely on residential services, day programs and behavioral health.
“It sometimes requires patience to serve this population, and some general health care providers, they don’t have the time or sometimes even the desire to do that,” Maynard said. “So we are going to create a place and services that are specifically geared to these folks.”
A May survey commissioned by Easterseals, the national nonprofit organization that serves people with
disabilities, revealed the scope of the problem.
It reported that 80% of medical students in the United States receive no training in how to treat people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, and 56% said they would not feel competent to treat that population.
Dr. Cindy Ripsin was hired two months ago as medical director of Boundless Health. The 20-year family medicine doctor was previously medical director of two clinics in Galveston County, Texas, and said she has always had a preference to help underserved communities.
“We’ll do basic primary care, but I have an understanding, and the rest of staff has understanding, on how to care for people with autism, people with Down syndrome, people with cerebral palsy,” Ripsin said. “It isn’t that it takes sub-specialty care, but it takes an understanding of the population, how we can best serve them.”
What that looks like at Boundless Health, Ripsin said, will include having dimmer switches on lights in the exam rooms (for people with sensory sensitivity) and a “quiet room” off the main waiting area, so patients who are anxious or scared can calm themselves.
In addition, Ripsin said, the scheduling will be done to accommodate what often needs to be a longer examination.
“We understand we’re going to need to take some time with people,” she said. “We may do things in very small increments until people get comfortable with us.”
That all sounds good to Kathy Brennen, a Clintonville resident and mother of three boys, the youngest of whom, 18year-old Liam, has epilepsy and is on the autism spectrum.
Brennen attended a recent Boundless Health open house as she looks for a place for Liam to continue care once he ages out of his pediatrician’s practice.
“What excites me is we need to have a place that understands kids with disabilities, and you don’t always see that with the typical community,” she said.
Like the mother who called Maynard, Brennen said her dentist refused to treat Liam, who is a senior at Centennial High School.
“The dentist was scared of dealing with him and didn’t know how that would turn out,” said Brennen, who now takes Liam to a dentist in Powell instead.
To accommodate the additions, I Am Boundless is renovating two on the 44acre campus that housed a psychiatric hospital, from 1916 to 1999.
Dentistry will be provided on site by a faculty member from the Nisonger Center at Ohio State University, which focuses on providing education, care and research for the developmentally disabled community.
Maynard said I Am Boundless plans to pay for the added services by applying to be a Federally Qualified Heath Center. If the government approves its application, Boundless Health will receive enhanced reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid.
Jed Morison, superintendent and CEO of the Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities, said he did not think there was a gap in coverage for the intellectual or developmental disabilities community in Greater Columbus, citing “a lot of wonderful doctors and nurses and people out in the community doing their very best to support people.”
But Morison welcomed the expansion of an experienced organization like I Am Boundless into health care.
“Anytime we can find a provider who is sensitive to some of the communication needs and mobility needs of folks, that’s very helpful,” he said. “And Boundless has a very good reputation, so families will be very welcoming to the notion of this expanded service.”
Ripsin said Boundless Health physicians will treat anyone in the family, not just the person with disabilities. If a sibling or parent also is a patient, that normalizes the experience, she said.
“It’s really an honor for us to come into a family unit and be allowed to serve and help them with their care, and I find a lot of gratification in that,” she said. “We’re helping them meet needs they have to make their life better. Because that’s really what primary care is all about.”