New Haven Independent

Carroll (pictured), who’s served on the board for 31 years, was at the open house Thursday for Hill Health’s new Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) specialty clinic. The clinic is sharing space at State Street Health Services, 911 State St., with the health center’s ob-gyn clinic. Carroll said she wanted to consult Dr. Stanley Friedman because of concerns about her hearing.

In early November, Friedman (pictured) began providing treatment for allergies and for ENT ailments stemming from recurrent sore throats, vertigo or laryngeal cancer. Babies and toddlers with persistent ear infections can be assessed at the clinic, although if they need ear tubes implanted, the procedure is done at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

The clinic is a partnership with the hospital and Yale School of Medicine, which between them provided $80,000 to rehab the space, and also helped pay for the equipment in the new clinic.

Tucker Leary, a vice president at YNHH who attended the open house, said this new service is much needed. “The ENT clinic at the hospital was overwhelmed,” he said. “There were very few physicians in the community who were willing to take Medicaid. Hill Health Center was expanding its outpatient sites, so we could move a portion of our program over here under Dr. Friedman, and see more patients.” The health center accepts Medicaid and insurance from other government health programs as well as private insurance.

Friedman said, “We get referrals from all over the state. It’s mostly patients with Title XIX, SAGA, Husky,” Friedman said. The clinic charges on a sliding scale for those without insurance. An audiologist will start working there in January to do hearing tests.

Gary Spinner (pictured), chief operating officer of Hill Health Center, said the new clinic will allow patients better access and better care. That’s the goal of all the specialty clinics — including dermatology, neurology, ophthalmology, podiatry and gastrointestinal — the center has opened in recent years, especially for its 28,000 patients who receive public assistance or are uninsured.

“As the economy has gotten bad and if it gets worse,” Spinner added, “it only increases the demand for services. Medicaid has had an increase in enrollment; SAGA [the health care program for poor single adults] increased 25 percent in the last four years. People lose their insurance and turn to safety net providers, and we welcome everybody - people with insurance, people without insurance.”

Asked if the recession is likely to impact these services in any other way, Tucker Leary responded, “People still have insurance and the government still covers people on Medicaid or SAGA, so we don’t anticipate there’ll be a barrier to access because of the economic downturn.”