Florida Physician Assistant Cares for the Uninsured
Florida physician assistant Joanie Kemsley is the primary health care provider at the St. Vincent de Paul Community Health Care free clinic for the uninsured in Port Charlotte, Fla.
Barry University's MEDexpress publication has an excellent profile of Kemsley in the Winter 2009 issue.
Sick people – particularly working adults – who can’t afford medical treatment are nothing new to Physician Assistant Joanie Kemsley. In fact, Kemsley begins each day surrounded by stacks of patient files, stacks that continue to accumulate on and around her desk at the St. Vincent de Paul Community Health Care Inc. clinic in Port Charlotte, a small town on the west coast of Florida. Located in what’s known as “Hurricane Alley,” between the more affluent cities of Naples and Tampa, the average annual income in Port Charlotte is approximately $25,000.
As the clinic’s only medically trained employee, Kemsley often spends her mornings making calls to get free medical care for the uninsured residents of Charlotte County; to say this can be frustrating at times would be an understatement.
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