(traffic rumbling) - Can we see what your foot is looking like now?

- It's itching now.

It's hurting now.

And I have actually been doing surgery on my own foot.

That would hurt the most.

- Okay, now, you have been putting the cream that we gave you.

You haven't recently?

- In two months, I have not had any medicine.

- [Nedra] All right, let's see what we got.

- [Patient] Paid a $400 light bill, so I don't have no money for no medicine.

(gentle music) - That needs to be addressed now, you're diabetic, and we don't want this to get infected.

Are you in the Phoebe Financial Assistance program?

- I didn't go to the hospital when I was hurt because I didn't wanna make another bill.

They messed up my credit and stuff.

If I could just stop the itch.

- Right, uh-huh.

- The itch won't stop.

- Uh-huh, okay.

- Ever stop.

It's going on for four years.

- Okay.

All right, my dear.

Let me get the medicine ordered for you.

(traffic rumbling) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) The issue is the follow up that's needed for many of these people that often doesn't get taken until they come here.

Could they do it in their facility with their providers?

Probably so.

Should they?

Probably so.

Phoebe Putney, it is the health system here in Albany.

This is a community-based nonprofit hospital.

They get resources from the state to take care of indigent populations, but who's accountable for ensuring that's happening?

Phoebe owns a lot of property.

In fact, they own this building.

And so we are very appreciative of that.

How have you been?

Because I haven't seen you in a while.

Your cholesterol level is fine.

It's under 200.

It's just these triglycerides.

Phoebe has been sending people since we've been here.

If they don't have any form of insurance, they get sent here.

They know they're likely not gonna get paid beyond the care that they're required to give a loss.

"Treat 'em and street 'em," as they say, meaning, get them out of the emergency room as fast as we can.

A lot of patients will fall through the cracks.

- There's always a dilemma of, how do we continue to serve our community if you can't pay for it?

We provide that service regardless of race, religion, and the ability to pay, but there's a fine line between providing everything free of charge and being able to run any business.

Some people might argue it should be higher, but we can't provide absolutely every service to every community member.

It's just like somebody walking into a grocery store saying, "I'm hungry, my children are hungry, so I'm gonna fill my cart up and I'm gonna walk out."

We don't live in a society that provides that 100% of the time.

We see this sort of patch quilt work of how you care for a community.

And so Samaritan Clinic is one of those.

That's how we provided them space at no charge.

(gentle music) - [Doretha] What brings you here today?

- [Patient] My ear.

- Okay, just let your arm relax now.

(machine buzzing) Samaritan Clinic was started by our pastor, Daniel Simmons at Mount Zion.

The primary basis of our funding is our parishioners.

- Father, we thank you for this privilege to represent you today before your people.

I pray for this community, for those who need saving to be saved.

In Jesus' name, amen.

(upbeat music) (choral group vocalizing) - The system is not designed to help everybody.

If I have good insurance, then I have access to quality healthcare.

But if I don't have the adequate health insurance, you don't get the same level of treatment.

We want to pray for our president, when the level of care that he is getting in the hospital will be the same level of care that people can get no matter who they are and where they are in this world.

(congregation applauding) This church in 2008 opened the Samaritan Clinic.

It costs absolutely nothing for you to come, and we get you the help that you need.

But the fact that the church has to do that should make our American government shamed that people are dying and you've got this major facility with all of these resources, and they don't have access to it.

- I started work at Phoebe in 1963.

Everything was color and white.

It was very much segregated.

And it stayed that way for years.

- [Operator] You've reached Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital.

- This is Doretha Moultrie.

I'm calling from the Samaritan Clinic.

I have a referral.

Okay, thank you.

(machine beeping) People aren't really getting the necessary care, and certainly not the preventative care.

Have you applied for Phoebe Financial Care?

- No, ma'am.

- Mr.

James.

- A lot of that stuff, they don't tell you about that stuff.

(laughs) When you in there, they don't tell you about all that.

- [Doretha] Can you go today and talk to 'em?

- Yes, ma'am.

At Phoebe?

- Mm-hm.

- Yes, ma'am.

- And how long have you had this lump on your face?

- About eight years, probably.

- Eight years.

Has it grown, you feel?

- I feel like it has.

- When were you last at Phoebe?

- [Patient] Might have been from when I was going for the surgery for it.

- Okay, so we scheduled the appointment.

And did they call you?

- Yes, ma'am.

They said they gave me an appointment.

They said that I need to have some certain amount of money when I come to that appointment.

- [Nedra] How much money did they tell you?

- $200.

- $200?

- Yes, ma'am.

- Did they know you were coming from Samaritan Clinic?

- [Patient] I told them all of that, ma'am.

I really did.

I did.

- Okay.

I'm gonna follow up on this lump and figure out what the issue is as to why we can't get you in.

- I appreciate that, ma'am.

- [Nedra] Okay, dear.

All right, just give me a minute.

I'm gonna go and look at the next... - Sometimes you deal with your sickness because it's trouble trying to do anything about it, especially when you got no insurance.

A lot of people don't go to the doctors and all that because a lot of them lack insurance and lack of money, so that makes it get worser and worser.

(phone dialing) (gentle music) - [Operator] Hello, you have reached Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital.

- I wanted to call to follow up on a referral that we sent.

- [Staff Member] Yeah, he had a... Let's see, last seen on Monday, August the 10th, 2020, at 11:00 AM.

Referred from the Samaritan Clinic, evaluation, and removed facial tumor.

- Is there a plan for the removal of the tumor, or?

- [Staff Member] I couldn't tell you.

What I can do is I can do a patient care and have a nurse call you.

- Okay.

- I wouldn't know anything medically about that.

All I can tell you is when the appointment was done.

- Do you know if he's required to bring a payment or anything?

- [Nedra] Well, normally, if they're self-pay and they first come, it's $100 requirement.

- Okay, 'cause usually for Samaritan Clinic patients though, they've been seeing like one a month.

- [Staff Member] Right, I'm not sure.

- [Nedra] All right, thank you, ma'am.

- [Staff Member] Alrighty.

Bye-bye.

- Some of these folks have gone on for years with these conditions, and I don't quite understand why people can't just get help.

(gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (child babbling) - They hot.

Boy, they hot.

This box here is bills from Phoebe.

I try to keep everything organized and put it all together until we no longer have to worry about it.

Another payment for $40.72 to a deceased lady.

Well, this is what I don't understand with Phoebe.

If my mother was at your hospital and she died in your hospital, I shouldn't have to show you a death certificate for you to stop sending bills out to a dead woman.

All that should be in your records.

So at the end of the day, it's about money to me.

Stop jumping up on that car, boy.

I remember talking to Mom, and she told me, "Cliffy, the last thing I need you to do is make sure that the family stay healthy."

I don't do Phoebe.

I really don't go to a doctor.

I know that I'm gonna get treated like nothing 'cause I ain't got no insurance, and then it's gonna just be all bad.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) (group chattering) (group chattering continues) - I don't want to get him in trouble though.

- Hey, how you doing, mama?

Good to see you.

- We really, really appreciate you all for celebrating her birthday with us.

- [Attendee] Yes!

Woo!

- My only sibling has always been a humble spirit.

Happy birthday, my sister.

Love you.

- Let us always remember my mother, the things that she taught each and every one of us.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

- [Group] Happy birthday!

- [Attendee] Love you.

- [Zandria] Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital.

I did not want my mommy in there.

- [Brenda] There are a lot of unanswered questions concerning my sister.

My sister was faced at the beginning of her life with trials.

(gentle music) The doctor that birthed her into this world broke her shoulder bone.

She had surgery after surgery, tried to get the arm a little higher.

She pushed her way through the pain, but she would smile through it.

She's a divorcee raising two kids.

And like most people, you ask, "What's important?

Do I pay this high deductible, or do I feed my kids and clothe my kids?"

She chose the latter, to feed her kids.

She went to the doctor only when she had to be pressed to go.

(dogs barking) - The first time I remember she started having health issues, I was 18.

(dogs barking) Good boy.

After congestive heart failure, it was the medicine.

It wasn't getting better due to the side effects of the medicine.

No doctor could explain or act like they could fix it.

She was afraid of Phoebe.

She didn't want to go to Phoebe.

She would go down to Sylvester or outpatient, somewhere like that.

She felt like the doctors cared a little more about trying to fix the issue.

I know that she was tired of the suffering and the pain, so we made the choice to go ahead and put her on dialysis.

It definitely put a lot of life more back into my mother.

- [Child] Bye-bye!

(upbeat music) (choir member speaking indistinctly) ♪ Lord, I pray ♪ - [Clifford] They call us the Johnson family.

We was always singing in the choir.

♪ I love you, I love you ♪ - My mother, my aunt, and my uncle, they went on a trip to Alabama, to a church.

Everybody in my family that was on that van caught that virus.

- [Newsreader] Phoebe Putney Health System is at the center of one of Georgia's hottest COVID-19 hot zones.

- [Newsreader] It's one of the most intense hotspots in the nation.

- [Newsreader] Albany leaders may need to continue a local state of emergency.

- [Reporter] 130 have died from coronavirus.

- [Newsreader] And those numbers continue to grow.

(gentle music) - We began to see more people coming in the emergency room with respiratory distress.

And every day, you thought it couldn't get any worse tomorrow than it was today, and it would be.

- The steroids, I think they put 'em on, like, methylpre- We were very quickly overrun, and then it turned into an uncontrollable brush fire.

- [Clifford] With mama having bad health issues already, she didn't want to go to Phoebe, but she had to go to dialysis.

- [Zandria] That day, they told her that her temperature was 102 and that she needed to go to the emergency room.

- [Enrique] It was very unpredictable in every single way.

All we knew is that the patients got really sick really quick.

- [Clifford] I thought Mom was supposed to be coming home.

- [Enrique] We were starting to see a pattern.

When they really got short of breath, it was very quick, and you had moments to put them on the ventilator to try to save their life.

- [Pastor] There should be a letter from me given to every- - [Zandria] The doctor said, "I'm sorry, her heart just stopped."

- I was really powerless.

I realized that there was nothing I could do, that nothing I did was making a difference, and those people were all gonna die.

(traffic rumbling) - I don't think I ever cried like that again in my life.

They did allow us to come up and view the body.

(gentle music continues) I noticed that they didn't take all the tubes and stuff out of my mother.

And the lady came in and she didn't even turn her head to even acknowledge me, she just stared in the hook in this monitor that was attached to my mother, and I felt like that was just so disrespectful.

I asked the nurse, "Well, will y'all allow me to get her belongings?"

(machine beeping) Well, the nurse tell me, "This one didn't have any belongings."

She said, "This one."

What you mean, "This one"?

You could have said, "This patient."

I understand that this is her job, I get it, but this is my mother.

That definitely tore me with Phoebe.

(birds chirping) (gentle music) - [Brenda] We've buried four people in this family.

Every time you turn the news on, it was somebody's name that you knew that had just died.

(birds chirping) - [Clifford] The way I feel towards Phoebe, I have to look at the bigger picture.

What's more important, my feelings, or what will really help the family for the future?

My mother asked me to make sure that I keep the family safe.

I also keep the family healthy.

That's my purpose.

(gentle music) (birds chirping) - Cliff does not go to the doctor a lot.

Okay.

I'll bring another thing.

He does not have health insurance at the moment.

That's something that we need.

- [Clifford] Everybody can't afford insurance like they should have.

(traffic rumbling) Phoebe, I feel like downplay a lot of people what they consider poverty or doesn't have, like, health insurance.

- We gonna check the voltage to this battery.

- Yes, sir.

- Make sure the battery's good or not.

- Okay.

06.

- 06.

- I got kicked out of high school just making own choices.

Yes, sir.

I go to school for, you know, hands-on training.

- You can see that grid area?

- Yes, sir.

- The grid area is your operating area.

- [Clifford] I can't expect my boys to do right if I don't do right.

(trainer speaking indistinctly) (engine rumbling) - [Clifford] Because of me being a student in the school, I pay like $62 a month.

And once I go off and just get, like, a job, then that will go up.

- [Diamond] Cameron.

Today we are getting ready to try to get Clifford on as a new patient.

- [Clifford] It may be a possibility of being denied.

- [Operator] If you would like to make an appointment, press three.

(phone ringing) - [Staff Member] This is McKenzie.

How can I help you?

- Hello, how are you?

I'm calling on behalf of my husband.

I'm wondering, are you guys accepting any new patients?

- [Staff Member] We are, but it is depending on what kind of health insurance the patient may have.

You said that he has Ambetter?

- [Diamond] Yes.

- [Staff Member] We do take Ambetter.

- [Diamond] Okay.

- [Staff Member] Okay, what kind of concerns does he have for his appointment?

- Well, he's been having, like, back pains that he wants looked at, but he has not had any regular care for some time, so.

- [Staff Member] Okay, I have something available for Thursday at 10 o'clock.

Is that okay?

- Yes, ma'am, at 10 o'clock.

- All right.

Thank you, Sugar-Wugar.

- You're welcome.

(gentle music) - It feels good just about, you know, making next steps and growing up, taking care of yourself.

Stop!

(laughs) (Cameron giggling) It feels amazing to have insurance, to be going to the doctor.

I've waited long enough to make the right decision and make those steps.

If you don't do what you need to do to make your health better, there's gonna be another repeated curse.

All right.

It's my first time coming up here.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) - All right, big breath, and up.

I think that all health of this population suffers because we don't put that attention on primary care.

So it looks like your sugar's under really good control.

Are you in a pre-diabetes stage?

- Yeah.

- [Michael] It struck me that we did have so many patients here who were on the outskirts of the medical system.

- All right, you can relax your arm.

- Okay.

- Keep it straight for me.

- I'm real concerned about that blood pressure.

They say it's a silent killer.

- It is a little high.

Your top number are really high.

- See?

So she wasn't lying.

How high is it?

- I'm gonna double check just to be sure.

- Okay.

(phone ringing) - Hello?

- Hey, babe.

I got high blood pressure.

I don't know, the doctor ain't came in yet, but I don't... It's high.

But it messes with the blood flow of the male erection, and I said, "I don't want to deal with that."

- [Diamond] So what are you saying, you don't want to take no medicine?

- No, I ain't saying I don't want to take no medicine if I have high blood pressure, but I gotta find some type of remedy.

(door knocking) - Hey, there.

- Hello.

- How are we doing?

- Pretty good.

- Good.

Hi.

So you've never had any issues with blood pressure before, no history with elevated blood sugars, nothing like that?

- No, no.

- Okay.

I know your mom recently passed.

I'm very sorry to hear that.

Did she have high blood pressure?

- Yeah.

- She did?

Okay.

Anybody else in the family that you know of who may have had high blood pressure?

- Probably my whole family the way they ate, yeah.

- What about other things in the family?

Any diabetes running in the family?

- Yeah.

- Who's had diabetes?

- My mom.

- Your mom did?

Okay.

Anybody else that you know of?

- Probably grandmother did, yeah.

- Okay.

So I'm gonna get you started on a low dose of one of the medicines.

It's called losartan.

- Okay, yeah, let's do low doses.

- Yeah, low dosing.

And then as you go along, we can look and see if the blood pressure is starting to do better.

If it is, we can reduce the dose.

(traffic rumbling) - Makes you feel more secure knowing that if I need to go to the doctor, I can.

(waves lapping) There's the year that she passed away.

It feels like it was just yesterday.

(Clifford laughs) Phoebe, I think about it a lot sometimes.

Do I just keep walking around saying I don't like Phoebe when Phoebe was the one that just took everybody in?

(gentle music) If I was somewhere else in another state, would I be saying the same thing about their hospital?

It just hurt.

But I just can't be always mad at it.

I have to move forward.

- Yeah, right?

- But you wet now.

- We thank you for the life of Beverly K. Thomas, Father.

We thank you for 61 years of her life.

- God, you gave us a beautiful mother.

I couldn't ask for a better one.

I just want to say ashes to ashes and dust to dust, and may, mama, your soul live forever, that you told each and every one of us standing around right now, mama, still sticks with us to this day.

(gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (no audio) (no audio)