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2009-11-17 issue:

Skills are worth 'more than money'

Maple City Health Care Center accepts vouchers from patients who volunteer

by Don Yost for Maple City Health Care Center

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Maple City Health Care Center provides health care for residents in Elkhart County, Ind., by providing primary health care. But in November 2008, the board and staff of the center heard about families who had to choose between food and health care due to the high unemployment rate in the county. The news prompted the organization to rethink its strategy for providing affordable health care.

Maple City Health Care Center had previously relied primarily on sliding fees based on a family's income. At the largest discount, a typical office visit costs $7.60. With unemployment at 18 percent, the problem the center faced in October 2008 was that some families did not have $7.

Stephanie uses More Than Money for Brandon’s health care. Photo provided.

Instead of focusing on the problem of people with no money, the center tried focusing on assets. The primary asset identified was time, because unemployed people have lots of time.

At first, staff thought about trying to match people who had time with people who needed help (a disabled couple needing snow removed from their driveway, for example). However, the staff didn’t have time to collect needs and oversee connections.

But sister community organizations in Goshen had the assets that Maple City Health Care Center lacked. La Casa (neighborhood development), The Window (food bank), Maple City Market (food co-op), and Elkhart County Habitat for Humanity all used volunteers and already had training programs and supervisors in place. 

The center worked out agreements with these organizations and designed a voucher for families who had no cash.

When family members volunteer at approved organizations, a representative of the organization signs a voucher that can then be used like cash to pay for health care at the center.

Because the family members help the center accomplish its mission of fostering a healthy community, the center credits their account $10 for every hour they volunteer. The program is called More Than Money, to demonstrate that people and their skills are worth more than money.

So far, more than 30 people have volunteered over 400 hours. Stephanie, a teenage mother, paid for her prenatal care by working as a receptionist at The Window.

Miguel (not his real name), an unemployed father of six children, worked at La Casa. 

"I felt relief that I could pay for the doctor," Miguel says. Miguel's work had unexpected benefits. "When I worked for La Casa, I learned how to build walls and fix plaster."

Employees working at the front desk of Maple City Health Care Center noticed a big change in Miguel.

Prior to participating in More Than Money, Miguel slouched, looking like a beaten man. When he brought in his first 10 signed vouchers, Miguel held his head high. 

See Maple City Health Care Center's Web site, www.mchcc.com, for more stories. The center was founded in 1989 by physician James Nelson Gingerich.

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