Arkansas Blog: Halter announces free clinic details

We brought you this news yesterday, but Lt. Gov. Bill Halter has issued a news release today with more details on the Nov. 21 free medical clinic to be held at Little Rock's Statehouse Convention Center.

Halter was inspired, as we were Wednesday night, by MSNBC talk show host Keith Olbermann. He's been promoting the national free clinic efforts along with the push for universal health care legislation.

Here's an idea: Mike Ross and Blanche Lincoln volunteer to help with the crowds. They could explain to people with untreated pains why a government health insurance plan is such a bad idea. Why they'd never vote for expanding Medicare to serve all.

Should they drop by, somebody clip this Paul Krugman column for their reading pleasure. The tide may be turning against the insurance companies.

HALTER NEWS RELEASE

LITTLE ROCK (October 16, 2009) -- The Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock will be the site of a free medical clinic for people seeking care from a health professional on Saturday, November 21, Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter said today. The National Association of Free Clinics (NAFC), a national nonprofit organization, will operate the clinic.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for Arkansans who need health care to get the medical attention they sorely need, at least for a day. We are profoundly grateful to the National Association of Free Clinics and to Keith Olbermann, without whom this would not be happening,” Halter said.

The NAFC will set up a registration process for patients and volunteers leading up to the November 21 clinic. The Alexandria, Va.-based non-profit organization operates as an advocate for more than 1,200 free medical clinics and the people they serve nationwide. The non-profit organization engages a volunteer workforce of doctors, dentists, nurses, therapists, pharmacists, nurse practitioners, technicians and other health care professionals to help meet the medical needs of patients served by free clinics.

The NAFC has received donations from people responding to a call from Olbermann, an MSNBC news anchor, for free medical clinics in six states, including Arkansas. Olbermann issued the call last week during his hour-long “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” program, which airs at 7 p.m. CST Monday through Friday on MSNBC. He announced the date and location of the Little Rock clinic on Thursday night’s program and also reported that 13,600 people had donated more than $1 million to the NAFC.

“I applaud Keith Olbermann for the passion and sense of urgency he has brought to the national health-care debate,” Halter said. “I congratulate him, along with thousands of Americans, who have opened their wallets to help make these free medical clinics a reality.”

Halter said he believed the one-day clinic also would help raise awareness of the free clinics already operating in Arkansas that work daily to fill the gaps in health care for the uninsured, underinsured and medically underserved.

The Lieutenant Governor arranged the date and location for the clinic, working with Nicole Lamoureux, executive director of the NAFC. Lamoureux booked the bottom floor of Convention Center, which offers more than 80,000 square feet of space for the one-day clinic.

Halter has spoken with Governor Mike Beebe, Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola and North Little Rock Mayor Pat Hays about the free clinic. He also spoke with the chief executives of the Arkansas Medical Society, the Arkansas Hospital Association, and the Arkansas Registered Nurses Association.

“The important thing was to get a date and location nailed down,” Halter said. “Many more details are to come. There is a lot of work to do in a relatively short period of time.”

U.S. Census Bureau statistics show that, on average, 492,000 Arkansans (17.6 percent of the state’s population) were without health insurance coverage during the three-year period of 2006 through 2008.

Comments

Halter for the Yewnited States Senate!

Posted by: Durango | October 16, 2009 10:35 AM

I was totally shocked yesterday when I saw my internist, Dr. Robert Hopkins, appear on the blog link to the Harmony Clinic in Little Rock as the Medical Director and then read his name in the Times Best Doctors issue as the top vote getter in Internal Medicine.
For all of the dollars my husband and I have spent at UAMS (and trust me, new livers and knees cost some big bucks even with QualChoice!), I hope the institution supports this outstanding doctor, faculty member, and all-around good guy by putting some docs, RNs, and students down at the free clinic.

Posted by: historian | October 16, 2009 10:54 AM

You gotta' love Bill Halter. He's bringing his political knowledge where it counts - to the people.

I'm not sure he could beat Blanche Lincoln, but he could damn well make her shake in her shoes. She's got money in the bank - but the folks at home are getting fed up with her.

Mike Beebe - you could very well be toast if Halter wanted the job.

Think about it Bill - it just may be the right time.

Posted by: ac360 | October 16, 2009 11:18 AM

Halter's the man..... one of the few pols that makes me think the tradition of Bumpers/Fulbright/Clinton et. al is still alive in Ark.

Posted by: JD | October 16, 2009 11:43 AM

I can't believe people can walk around talking on the phone without a cord following them for miles and miles....and I can't believe Arkansas has a Lt. Gov. who actually does something! Doesn't Halter know he's supposed to just sit there with his hands (if so equipped) folded in his lap? I grew up thinking the Lt. Gov. position was just a little reward to veterans who left parts of themselves on foreign battlefields, bless their hearts. I was 20 before Joe Purcell was elected and had all his body parts. Even with all his parts, Joe just sat there with his hands folded.

Suddenly Halter comes out of nowhere...dispatches Jesus Jim Holt, takes office and gives us a state lottery for the first time in 173 years and then works to give the sick in the LR area some free health care while our 6 DC reps fight against it. Doesn't Halter know he doesn't have to do anything for his 39 thousand per year except keep breathing? Why does he care when so few others do?

I'm a quiet Beebe fan. Gov. Beebe removed most of the taxes on groceries in Arkansas and that's a really big big thing that's kinda got swept under the rug. Unless he goes some kind of viral, that will keep me voting for Beebe for a long time. No need to beat up Beebe to make Halter look better....what if they both looked good?!?!

Bill Halter for Senate has 4 solid votes at my house and as sick of Lincoln as everyone is.....I bet he could whip her handily in the primary. Real Democrats will give him plenty of money and Blanche will be unwilling to spend her big bundle cause she needs it for her golden years. So Bill has a fighting chance of moving his young tribe to DC in 2011.

He's got a little of that Fulbright-McClellan-Bumpers magic and could be a Senator from Arkansas who isn't laughed at. Wouldn't that be refreshing! We don't need these Republican bozos and we sure as hell don't need another 6 years of Blanche. I think it's time for Bill Halter to step up to the plate and take Arkansas into the 21st century at long last. Do it Bill!

Posted by: Deathbyinches | October 16, 2009 11:54 AM

Halter is a goober but, he might just beat Blank. The lottery is a joke. The poor paying for the education of the wealthy; how much sicker does it have to get.

But, go ahead and run Bill. Getting rid of Blank wouldn't be a bad legacy. Just don't buy a home in DC, rent.

Posted by: GeorgeRastasPeabodyIII | October 16, 2009 01:04 PM

I wish Halter would run against Beebe.

Posted by: james | October 16, 2009 02:41 PM

I wish Halter would run against Lincoln.

Posted by: OnlyinArkansas | October 16, 2009 08:15 PM

Arkansas Blog

Halter announces free clinic details

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