HORACE LANGFORD JR. / PVT Dr. Pejman Bady checks a patient attending his free clinic at Advanced Medical Center. Advertisement

Dr. Pejman Bady, medical director of Advanced Medical Center, isn't waiting for Congress to pass a health care reform bill.

On his own accord, Bady decided to open up a free medical clinic on Fridays for the poor. It has been open for the past month.

"We use the same requirements the county uses -- you have to be indigent and really, truly unable to pay your bills and have no insurance of any sort," Bady said.

Nye County uses Nevada Revised Statutes to calculate poverty. Under those guidelines, a person would have to earn less than $7,476 annually to be indigent. For a family of three the figure rises to $12,588 annually, for a family of four, $15,156.

Unfortunately, that includes a growing number of Pahrump residents.

An Associated Press study recently listed Nye County as the sixth most economically distressed county in the U.S. That was based on an unemployment rate of 15.8 percent, one in 14 households in some stage of foreclosure and almost 2 percent of the individual tax returns reflecting a bankruptcy filing.

"We have a significant number of uninsured patients that can't afford to go to the hospital because emergency room visits are so expensive. They can't pay their bills to come and see us here. A free clinic is the only way to allow these people to have care," Bady said.

The free clinic is scheduled Friday mornings, when Advanced Medical Center is a little less busy, he said. If more medical providers join in, Bady said he could expand the hours.

"I've always done charity work. We do charity work here, always with the churches. The economy's so bad, people are not getting any health care whatsoever. I think we can do our portion of it and put up a free clinic. I'm trying to get more people involved and more health care workers involved to donate their time," Bady said.

On a recent Friday morning, physician's assistants Tim Tarrant and Ha Le were seeing patients. Medical personnel check indigent patients for diabetes, high blood pressure and other maladies. Tarrant also does orthopedic work.

Advanced Medical Center can give indigent patients requests to get blood work done, Bady said, adding he's trying to get a diagnostic company on board to help with that sort of work.

Patients can also be referred to the Nye County Department of Health and Human Services for help paying for follow-up outpatient care like blood work and X-rays, but the county won't pay for physician's exams like those offered by Bady.

Patients have been coming in to the free clinic to seek treatment for everything from colds to long-term cardiac and lung problems, Bady said.

But Bady said there are limitations.

"It's an evaluation of problems. Obviously, we can't do major, diagnostic testing or that kind of stuff. We offer whatever we can do here for them within our means. So we could diagnose them, give them a prescription, or if we have any samples of medicines, we'll give them medicines if they can't afford it. We'll do as much as we possibly can. There's a lot of legal limitations to what we can do."

He said some patients who lose their jobs and their medical insurance stop taking their medication because they can't afford it and end up dying in the hospital.

"This is a new thing we're just starting. We have a lot of wrinkles we have to iron out," Bady said.

An early visit to a doctor for preventive care can be much less expensive than waiting for that trip to the emergency room.

"This is not something where a patient comes in and we get him cured of all their problems. This is just a way to at least help him a little bit, with what we can, in the way we can to help our community. I've been here for 14 years now and I've got a very close bond with the community," Bady said. "It's painful to see people that are dying or not being taken care of."

The general practitioner said he formerly worked for Mother Theresa and Doctors Without Borders when he had a practice in Beverly Hills. In Pahrump, Bady said many people live in manufactured homes who are unable to afford a stick-built home. Those are the ones suffering the most, he said.

"Pahrump was the closest thing to like an underserved area for me. That's why I came out here. That's why I stayed here and I love it here. I love the people, I love this town," Bady said.

After their initial visit, patients will have to prove their financial status to keep using the free clinic, he said.

"People are very interested. They're very appreciative. It's a nice thing to have at this time. Our country's in financial turmoil. People are unhappy," Bady said.

So what does Bady think about the health care reform bills going through Congress? Bady said he doesn't know the details.

"I do believe that it's going to be an increased cost to the taxpayers. I do believe that it's going to reduce the quality of care that we are required to provide. My main issue, my main gripe, is how can you increase the volume of patients that they want us to see, reduce our pay but do nothing about tort reform?" Bady asked.

"They don't want to change anything there, but they want us to work harder, see more patients in a shorter amount of time and not make any mistakes, and if we make mistakes, they want us to be sued and liable for everything. I just see the system as being very unfair toward the patients and the doctors."