NHSC Physician Brings Feeling of Kinship in Mission to Help Underserved

For Theodore Ross, M.D., talking about the mission of the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) is personal. His own childhood was scarred by the same poverty and lack of access to viable, quality health care services that afflict many of his patients at the Southern Illinois Healthcare Foundation (SIHF) in East St. Louis, Illinois.

Ross grew up during the 1960s and 1970s in the rural Mississippi town of Tchula. As an African American, he experienced firsthand the pain and consequences of unequal care. "I always wanted to serve underserved patients because I was one of those patients," he recalls. "It was really difficult to get health care services in my hometown." Racial segregation lingered on even into the early 1970s. "There were still separate waiting rooms, so I'd go into the 'colored' waiting room. We had to deal with that."

One incident from that time is seared into his memory. As a young boy, Ross witnessed with horror as a person died needlessly of a gunshot wound because the ambulance from another town took 45 minutes to arrive in Tchula. "That situation just stuck with me throughout high school and college," he comments somberly. "I wanted to make sure that would never happen again."

Buoyed by a loving and supportive grandmother, Ross studied hard and earned excellent grades throughout high school and while in college at Mississippi Valley State University. A mentor in college urged him to apply to Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis—one of the top ten medical schools in the nation. With the support of a four-year NHSC scholarship, Ross succeeded in winning a place at the prestigious medical school and completed his challenging academic career and residency program in internal medicine.

Ross chose to stay in the St. Louis area to begin his NHSC practice rather than return to Mississippi, because his family had established new roots there. Ross also found a challenge worthy of his youthful aspirations in the nearby blighted community of East St. Louis.

After a short stint at a hospital that closed due to financial problems, Ross checked out SIHF, which was headquartered in nearby Centerville, Illinois. SIHF and Ross turned out to be an excellent match. The organization was tiny and struggling when he first came on board in 1989. At one point, SIHF's staff was down to just two doctors—Ross and a pediatrician. Even Ross wasn't sure he would stay past his NHSC commitment. However, when the clinic's medical director left, he assumed the position.

Ross admits that learning how to run a community health center—and recruiting and retaining quality professional staff—was challenging at first. He and SIHF Executive Director Robert Klutts agree that the best way to attract and retain NHSC clinicians is to pay them competitive salaries. The investment is well worth it, Ross contends. "Every time you lose a doctor, you lose patients, as well as the time and energy you have invested in training that clinician."

Another key to success was SIHF's decision—in deference to many physicians' preference to be supervised by peers-to let Ross manage the foundations' team of physicians. Under Ross's supervision, SIHF's clinician retention rate has risen to 90 percent. He now oversees the work of 50 doctors at 18 clinics in East St. Louis and the surrounding region.

Despite his busy administrative duties, Ross has remained active in patient care "because I never want to forget my main purpose, which is to provide service to my patients." He adds, "I also want to support my physicians by being on the front line with them. They know that whatever policy I make will affect me also."

SIHF has grown and flourished over the past 15 years and now serves more than 35,000 patients per year. During that period, SIHF has acquired two hospitals. One of them, a public facility, was at risk of closing because its patient base was comprised mostly of the poor and underserved of East St. Louis.

In another unique arrangement, SIHF has partnered with the local public health department, the East Side Health District, where Ross also serves as medical director. The partnership benefits everyone because both SIHF and the health department can transfer patients to each other. It led to the creation of two school-based clinics—staffed by SIHF—that provide primary care and health education to students.

"We saw the need out there," Ross says. "There are more and more uninsured patients, more Medicaid patients, and there weren't many private physicians coming into this area."

Ross interviews all new physicians for SIHF "to make sure that they have the same mission that we have." He also strives to hire only highly competent doctors. "I believe that good physicians attract other good physicians."

At the end of the day, Ross will readily admit that working with the underserved is still arduous and challenging. "But this is what I enjoy doing," he says. "This is my mission in life. How many people can really say that?"