Jackson — Althea Miles' insurance company won't cover the $23,000 medical bill she incurred after spending four days in intensive care, recovering from severe pneumonia.

The 45-year-old Jackson resident's health plan, Jackson Health Plan, is provided for low- to no-income residents but does not cover many medical needs - including hospital stays.

The thought of finding the means to pay the bill petrifies Miles, but a new MSU grant could help people in similar situations in the future.

Last week, MSU announced the formation of the Michigan Center for Health Education Training in the Communities. The center, funded by a $5 million federal grant, urges medical students to consider working in medically under-served areas by requiring students to spend a portion of their final two years of training in these communities.

In Jackson County, more than 19,000 people are without health insurance, and 12.2 percent of residents are living below the poverty level.

The county is one of 62 in Michigan considered medically under-served, a federal designation given to communities where the population-to-physician ratio is very low or a large percentage of the population is under-insured or uninsured. The county is considered under-served in both primary medical and dental care.

"We have a mission to serve the people in the state as a land-grant university," project director Dr. William Wadland said.

Wadland, the chairperson of the Department of Family Practice at MSU, said the money helps students expand their learning opportunities.

"With this grant, we'll be able to actually place students beyond the communities and regions of fine learning."

Dr. Mark Lay, a physician and medical director at the Center for Family Health clinic in Jackson, said the grant will benefit the clinic in the future, because it urges medical students into careers in under-served areas.

On an average afternoon, the clinic is a boiling pot of screaming toddlers, crowded waiting rooms and nurses rushing from patient to patient.

About 200 to 300 patients visit the clinic each day, Lay said, and the center is the only one of its kind in the Jackson area that provides federally funded health care to people who have little or no health insurance.

"Someone works with (the patient) to see what their financial resources are," Lay said, adding that only about 8 or 9 percent of the clinic's patients have private insurance. "We see them whether they have money or not.

"We help them find money to take care of their medical needs, and we help them find some money to help us get paid."

Although Lay said he agrees that the MSU grant is a step in the right direction, he does not expect to feel any of its benefits for quite some time. The training itself takes five to seven years, Lay said.

"It will probably take a couple of years to even get the pipeline opened up down here," Lay said.

One of the services the center provides is a clinic at the Jackson Interfaith Shelter.

Suzanne Kirk, a certified family nurse practitioner at the center, runs the clinic three times a week and sees 20 to 30 patients during each session.

"We meet whatever needs they have - acute visits, if they are just having a cold, or people that have had injuries or people who have chronic diseases," Kirk said. "I have a caseload of people who come here instead of the main clinic, because they don't have any means of transportation."

Kirk, who receives medical school loan repayment from the federal government in exchange for working in an under-served area, said that the MSU grant will help Jackson's complex medical problems.

A lack of physicians and an insurance-deprived population are two key concerns for the city, Kirk said.

"It's finding people to provide health care that is affordable and getting people hooked up with the appropriate health insurance," Kirk said. "We have a lot of people who are working two jobs who have no health insurance.

"There is no one answer."

But for now, the clinic is the only answer for Miles, who moved into the shelter two-and-a-half weeks ago. And to help save on expenses, she uses the clinic through the shelter for other medical problems.

"I need to see a stomach specialist, a kidney specialist, but as far as I know, there is nowhere in the area to provide the services to me," Miles said.

Miles said the nearest provider is in Lansing, and she doesn't have any form of transportation.

"I don't have a way to get there," Miles said. "Where can I go?"

Don Jordan can be reached at jordand3@msu.edu.