Ross Gallabrese PROMOTING HEALTH — Ann Quillen, executive director of the Ohio Valley Health Center, shared details about the organization's work with members of the Steubenville Rotary Club.

STEUBENVILLE — Even though many changes have happened during the last 20 years, Ann Quillen said the goal of the work done at the Ohio Valley Health Center has not.

“Our mission has remained the same,” Quillen told members of the Steubenville Rotary Club during a recent meeting. ‘We are celebrating our 20th anniversary of providing quality health care to the medically uninsured and underinsured individuals and families around the Ohio Valley regardless of their ability to pay.”

It’s an important asset, Quillen said while speaking at the JeffCo Event Center, especially when you consider some sobering numbers. When it comes to health, Jefferson County ranks 75th out of 88 counties, she said, and 17.3% of people in the county experience poverty. She added that 7.2% of the county’s residents lack health insurance.

Even if they have insurance, she continued, in many cases the coverage provided is so poor and covers so little that it really doesn’t count.

“So many of our patients work full- or part-time jobs, and they just do not have access to insurance, or they can’t afford to buy into their program or the policies that their employers have,” Quillen said.

Quillen said it’s important to understand exactly what the health center does.

“When you say someone is medically uninsured, that’s obvious,” she said. “But somebody who might be underinsured would be someone who maybe has Medicaid, or they have insurance that has a huge deductible. Maybe they are on insurance, but they’re on medications like insulin, and they can’t afford to either buy insulin or pay their rent.”

All of the providers on the staff are volunteers, she added, saying the roster now includes nine. Their work last year allowed the center to provide $1,755,957 in free care. Operated on grants and through donations, the health center truly can make a difference in the lives of people who would find it very difficult to obtain health care services elsewhere.

“Many times, our patients have to take off work, or if they are taking off work they aren’t always getting paid for the time they’re taking off work. It’s not always convenient, and then transportation is always an issue,” Quillen said.

“We strongly believe in point of care,” she added. “That means that when a patient comes through the door, they are going to get an exam by one of our medical providers. We are going to do laboratory testing, everything that we can do, and then they’re also going to leave that day with medication, and they leave that day with hope. They have a treatment plan they can manage.”

The center, located at 423 South St., believes in preventative care, Quillen added. That includes screenings for colorectal cancer, liver scans, breast cancer and cervical cancer programs for women and prostate cancer screening programs for men. A patient navigator can help patients through the process of signing up for Medicaid — last year, she said, they helped 91 people register.

Quillen pointed out that last year, they had 44 participants in their colon cancer screening program, and saw four positive results. All of those patients received follow-up care care and treatment, she added. And, 32 of the men in the center’s 502 patient base had a PSA blood test.

The Diversity Health Initiative is a critical component of the center’s efforts, Quillen said. Black women, she added, are 40 percent more likely to die from breast cancer than white women, a tragic number, she said, adding that the numbers are even higher for prostate cancer.

Quillen will retire from her post later this year. That will bring an end to her second tenure at the center, which started in June 2020. she also held the job from 2008 to 2015.

Every piece of equipment in the center and every lab test that is offered, she added, has very likely been inspired by a patient. That includes being able to offer echocardiograms onsite, she explained.

“The thing about that is, once you buy that piece of equipment, there is no further investment,” Quillen said. “What you have to have is a tech who will do the test and a cardiologist to read it. We have that.”

All of the funding to operate the center comes from grants and donations, she said. Her husband, the Rev. Clint Quillen, the pastor of Wintersville Methodist Church, handles much of the grant-writing duties. Last year, the center applied for more than $400,000 in grants and has a success rate of around 80 percent, she said.

The center’s biggest fundraising event of the year, its annual gala, has been scheduled for April 26 at the St. Florian Event center in Wintersville, she said. Tickets for the event, which raises about one-third of the center’s annual budget, cost $65 each and are available by contacting the center. The theme is “A Roaring 20 Years of Hope, Health and Healing!”