Thanking Dr. Katherine Morris and Northwest Surgical Oncology
When oncological surgeon Dr. Katherine Morris saw a patient who also needed a neurologist, she called many doctors around Portland until she stumbled upon Wallace Medical Center, which arranged for treatment right away, just as Project Access NOW was forming.
“Once I saw [Project Access NOW] in action, I wanted to be a part of it,” Dr. Morris said.
Because getting people the care they need without health insurance used to involve calling friends for favors, Dr. Morris appreciates how Project Access NOW makes charity care simple. It actually reduces the workload!
“Now I can just help the patient and not worry about anything else,” she said.
Dr. Morris hasn’t felt overwhelmed because she got to decide how many patients she wanted to see. The program allows physicians to budget and plan for donating care.
Health care is a team effort. For example, Dr. Morris saw a young female patient with lymphoma who needed various tests, therapies, and surgeries. The bill would have come to up to $200,000 (Dr. Morris noted she didn’t know anyone who could afford full cancer care without insurance).
“Project Access was with her the whole way,” Dr. Morris said. “I was able to perform the surgeries she needed at Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital, and she was able to get her chemotherapy under the care of another volunteer physician, Dr. Kasra Karamlou. She received help from so many other staff from our hospital administration, nurses, anesthesiologists, and pathologists — all volunteers.” Project Access NOW is now making sure the patient receives her necessary follow-up care.
For Dr. Morris, the program is “a chance to do medicine the way it’s supposed to be done. It’s like being a frontier doctor except now you have modern equipment! You get a program behind you that allows you to what you do — take care of patients, who are just good people trying to get through life. It’s efficient and easy.”
The only downside Dr. Morris sees with the program is that there are so many patients who need help. “No matter what happens with health care reform in the future, the bottom line is that people are getting sick today and we can help them today. I haven’t met any doctors who participate and think it isn’t a phenomenal program. Give it a try: sign up for one, two consults a year to see how it works!”
(April 2010)
