A prescription for the problem

Peter Houck takes the current debate over national health care legislation very seriously. Which only makes sense, because he is both a physician and the pediatric medical director at the Johnson Health Center on Federal Street.

But there are also other sides to Houck — like his publishing company, and his long interest in local history. This fall, all these facets have come together.

“I felt like people needed a little more information,” he said. “The issue has become so political that we’re losing sight of the real issues.”

So Houck, who has several books to his credit, cranked out a little booklet: “Central Virginia Healthcare: Worth Saving?” It’s available at a number of local outlets, and it’s free. Houck ate the cost himself.

The first section talks about our area’s medical history. And a fascinating history it is, beginning with Dr. George Cabell (the builder of Point of Honor), whose patients included Patrick Henry.

Unfortunately, that particular doctor/patient relationship ended badly. As Houck pointed out: “When Dr. Cabell attended his friend, Patrick Henry, at his deathbed, mercury was used to calm his intestinal colic, a medication now considered toxic.”

It did cure Henry’s colic — permanently. I’m sure Dr. Cabell felt bad.

Later, during the Civil War, Lynchburg became one of the leading hospital centers in the South. Nearly half of the city’s tobacco warehouses were drafted into the Confederacy and converted into hospitals that treated the sick and injured of both sides. And now, nearly 150 years later, Centra Health is one of the area’s leading employers.

Having set the stage, Houck then goes on to provide a brief rundown of our area’s current medical safety net. He believes it’s a good one.

“I honestly think that there is no one in Central Virginia who would be turned away if they needed care,” he said. “Between social services and the Johnson Health Center and the Free Clinic, we have things pretty well covered.”

The problem, he said, is preventive care.

“Those who fall through the cracks,” he writes, “are middle-aged, middle-class people with chronic problems like diabetesm, hypertension and asthma. Many cannot afford their medicines, doctor visits and missing time from work. They frequent emergency rooms and urgent care centers for episodic care and thus their health gradually worsens over time.”

What concerns Houck about the “single-payer” health care option is that the federal government has a way of creating one-size-fits-all systems. Says Houck: “America, the beloved country we live in, is as different in its regions as France is from Somalia.”

He obviously sees Lynchburg as France, with a unified medical community, a proud tradition and a single hospital under one medical umbrella.

“Yes, our safety net leaks some,” he said, “but basically, our citizens are being cared for at a lower cost than the rest of the country.”

To completely change the current system for an experimental alternative, in Houck’s mind, would be a little like the cutting-edge remedy that George Cabell used on Patrick Henry.