NORMAN — A trio of Norman women is working to make the community healthier.
Cindy Causey, Sharon Barbee and Lindsey Flaming bought Affordable Quality Care on May 14, from its previous owner Glenda Clemens, who recently moved from Norman to the Seattle area.
“The clinic was a wonderful idea and was a stable business opportunity,” said Causey, the clinic’s CEO, business manager and Clemens’ sister. “If we had not done this, it would have closed. And it would have impacted so many lives.”
Those lives would have included 13 full-time and two part-time employees and hundreds of area patients who rely on the clinic for low-cost health care.
The full family practice healthcare clinic staffed by nurse practitioners at 1139 N. W. 36th Street, Suite 200, focuses on the nearly one-third of Cleveland County’s population that have limited or no access to health care. They work with Medicaid and Medicare clients primarily, also taking Tri-Care, cash, check and credit cards.
The clinic opened in 2003, and has become one of the biggest Medicaid clinics in the state.
“We wanted to continue the mission of the company,” Flaming said. “We wanted to continue for our patients that we’ve been seeing since 2003.”
Causey, Barbee and Flaming worked together on the clinic’s executive committee and became close friends.
Barbee, a licensed practical nurse or LPN, is the nursing manager, and Flaming is an advanced registered nurse practitioner or ARNP in charge of the staff of five nurse practitioners.
“Each has our area of expertise, Barbee said. “That’s why it’s important for the three of us to be a team.”
Preventative care is a big part of what they do, with pediatric care up to age 18 comprising about 75 percent of their patient base.
“We get to know our patients,” Barbee said.
Well Child Walk-in Clinics are 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and 1 to 5 p.m. Wednesdays.
Currently they are busy helping their clients get ready for the start of school.
They provide shots, including vaccine shots, and some lab work from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday; and 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays. They can do EKGs in house and many blood work tests, also strep and urine tests.
“We can have the results quickly,” Barbee said.
Their “Becoming a Well Woman” service includes a complete wellness exam including a pap smear for $75. Those who qualify for the “Take Charge” program through the Oklahoma State Department of Health can get annual mammograms and pap smears.
The clinic also manages some stable chronic health conditions, like diabetes and hypertension.
“If it’s beyond our scope, we do provide referrals,” Causey said. The clinic is not affiliated with any particular hospital or physician group and makes referrals to the appropriate physician.
Because they are nurse practitioners, they can’t prescribe certain drugs, which require a physician’s orders. Those include Ritalin, Metadate, Methylin, Adderall, Concerta, Dexedrine, Focaline, Percocet and Oxycontin.
They also do not prescribe narcotics for chronic pain, including Lortab, any medication with codeine, Demerol, Fentanyl or morphine, also requiring a physician.
And if the occasional client walks in with more serious symptoms, such as pains in their chest, they work to stabilize the client while an ambulance is on the way.
“Some weeks, we call the ambulance every single day,” Barbee said. “We all are licensed and skilled in the practice of CPR.”
Hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday; and 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday. To reach the clinic by phone, call 217-9997.
“The clinic is near and dear to my heart,” Barbee said. “We wanted to keep the mission alive. We wanted to keep serving the Norman community.”
