She was standing in line at the health screening – young looking, and just a bit stocky. She certainly didn’t seem like someone who would be a walking time bomb. But she was.

When we checked her blood for cholesterol it came back sky high, so we sent her to the local lab for more testing. The lab called us almost immediately to say “We can’t do some tests due to very high fat in the blood”. Meaning that the lipids or fats circulating in her body were so high that they could be seen with the naked eye.  In fact, when we got the results back, her lipid levels were astronomically high.  They were 10 times the normal level.

We called her in to the clinic, and asked if there was any family history of heart attacks. She said “Yes, my mom was only 45 when she died, of a heart attack”. That meant her problem was genetic, and her risk of having the same outcome was very high.

But what could we do? She had no health insurance. And no job. If we did nothing, she was headed for a heart attack. And a trip to the ER and hospital care (if she survived) could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In fact, we could do something, and we did. We started her on medications to lower her blood lipids, we called our contacts and scheduled her to see a cardiology specialist within the week – for free, and we put her in our clinic where her diet and blood fats will be managed. Doing this, we were able to walk her back from the precipice, probably saving her from a life threatening heart attack, saving her a trip to the emergency room and – just as likely – saving Rhode Island tax dollars (that would be spent on her emergency room care and hospitalization) too.

At Clinica Esperanza/Hope Clinic in Olneyville, we walk people back health care precipice on a daily basis. 70 percent of our patients achieve significant health indicator improvements (lower weight, blood pressure, better blood sugar control) within 6 months of joining our patient group, based on a recent retrospective evaluation of our electronic medical records. (See October issue of Medicine and Health, Rhode Island at http://www.rimed.org/2011-10.asp).

Who is are we? We are the volunteers at Clinica Esperanza/Hope Clinic.

Our clinic is a free health care clinic for Rhode Island residents who cannot afford health care. We have open enrollment on a first come, first served basis. If you want to contribute, please sign up to volunteer by writing info@aplacetobehealthy.org or send us a check made out to Clinica Esperanza/Hope Clinic 60 Valley Street, Providence RI. We turn your contributions into better health for all.