Decreased staffing and a tightening state budget have led the Edisto Savannah Public Health District to close one of its satellite sites in Denmark.

Two months after satellite sites in North and Elloree were closed, decreased state funding, lower Medicaid payments and reduced staffing have created a continued financial squeeze that has forced the closure of the Denmark Health Department, officials say.

The district also conducted utilization studies that concluded the numbers served at the site did not warrant its continued operation. The last day of service at the Denmark Health Department is June 1, but some officials say the closure will impact the welfare of local residents, many of whom are without transportation to visit other facilities.

Mike Chapell is regional health director for the district, which serves Orangeburg, Bamberg, Calhoun, Allendale, Barnwell and Aiken counties. He said the closure of the Denmark Health Department was being eyed during the same time the decision was made to close satellite sites in North and Elloree on April 1.

"One of the things that I wanted to see is whatever additional budget cuts we may have to take. I have been informed that in July the region will have to take an additional 10.38 percent cut in our budget. Closing the Denmark Health Department was one of the most difficult decisions I've had to make. We remain committed to providing quality services and looking at issues of enhanced transportation opportunities for that area. We will do everything we can to work with community partners and the medical community to ensure that appropriate services are provided," Chapell said.

The Denmark Health Department was housed on the campus of Voorhees College. It was located in the same building as the college's Center of Excellence in Rural and Minority Health and Family Health Center Inc.'s Denmark-based satellite site.

Chapell said the district is working with clients in the transfer of records to the Bamberg County Health Department, which is seven miles away. He said the Family Health Center would also be able to render services to clients following the closure of the Denmark Health Department.

Donnie Hilliard, executive director of the Orangeburg-based FHC, said he and other FHC officials met with Chapell two months ago about the closure of the facility. FHC will do its best to absorb as many of the patients as possible.

"We made it clear to staff over there to accommodate their needs to the best of our ability. We will not be in a position to do the immunizations to the degree that the health department was doing, but we'll try to do that, too. I'm hoping one of these days that we can get these centers back, but the fact about it is, once you ever close it, it's tough," said Hilliard, noting transportation will be an issue for many in the rural community.

"That's something that's sort of generic to our whole environment. We have the same problem in our patients, and we discussed that same situation with Mr. Chapell ... We'll have a little better situation in Denmark than we have in Elloree because the same transportation those patients in Denmark used to get to the health department will be the same transportation used to get to us because we're in the same building," he said.

Dr. Cleveland Sellers, president of Voorhees College, said the closure of the health department is disappointing and will bet a "devastating" blow to the local community."

Sellers said medical health services need to be filtering into the community rather than being taken away, particularly in rural, poverty-stricken areas where chronic diseases such as cancer and diabetes prevail. He also said a lack of transportation or money to afford private health care will be an issue for many.

"I'm not sure that Family Health Centers will be able to pick up the numbers of folks that the center has served. I have actually observed the waiting area just being literally full of folks in need of health services. It looks as if the services that are available to citizens in this area are just being taken away," he said, noting that he had hoped federal stimulus money would help forego the district's budget crisis.

"I haven't seen anywhere where those funds would come from, and I haven't heard the health department talking about any funds available through the stimulus. We have begun to work our collaborations with other medical facilities as MUSC, for example, to come into this area. But with the health center closing, I don't know if the supplemental will take care of what is primary.

"But we will persevere and move forward and see if we can, in unison with the city of Denmark and Denmark Tech, come up with some proposal or program that might to some extent offset some of the services that are leaving as a result of the closing of the facility," Sellers said.

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T&D Staff Writer Dionne Gleaton can be reached by e-mail at dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5534. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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