RITA COOK / Staff Writer
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FERRIS – It was several months ago the City of Ferris rolled out its “Access for All” healthcare initiative for residents in the city.
A precursor to that rollout came this past weekend when Operation Ferris offered residents free medical and dental services like blood pressure screenings, diabetic screenings, urine tests, heart health checks, physical exams, basic fillings, extractions, and preventive dental care such as x-rays cleanings, fluoride, and sealants.
While many residents around Ellis County continue to whisper the words “it’s socialized medicine,” that is not correct.
Ferris City Manager Brooks Williams, who was the brainchild along with partners this past weekend of Operation Ferris and who also put the Access for All program coming soon in motion said,
“The funding for the “Access for All” plan is coming from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 , offered by the federal government.”
While a $55 fee for the Access for All is what it will cost for each resident to take part in the program, Williams reiterated again
“This is not socialized medicine, we are not creating an indigent healthcare system where we are paying for hospital bills, we are not getting involved with insurance companies.
“Access for All is 100% an effort to capture conditions that exist at an early stage so that you don’t have to move to an indigent healthcare system.”
Access for All coming soon Ferris is free medical insurance for residents. It seems the confusion continues however, as to where that $55 is coming from and Williams assured “it is not from taxpayers and not from residents.”
The $55 is coming from ARPA, federal government money that most should remember was offered by the government to cities as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
The problem is, most cities did not use the money in the same way Ferris is doing; helping the residents up close and personal with health care (but why not, since the money was given to cities because of COVID – a healthcare issue).
Williams also reminded of the 8,000 people who took part in receiving monoclonal antibodies around Ellis County when Ferris had the only Antibody Center in the vicinity.
“I would tell them what they participated in was the definition of public healthcare,” Williams said. “It was healthcare that was provided to our citizens during a time that they had a need but it was an effort to keep them out of the hospital and healthy so they could fight the disease on their own. That is public health, it does not have to be that you are in a hospital bed being paid for by other taxpayers. I would say the Hope Clinic that does mental health, which is public health, so these are examples of what we are trying to do is get out ahead of something and provide that care at a very low cost before it becomes a public health issue. That is when we see things breaking the bank.”
Fast forward to this past weekend and residents came out for the Operation Ferris located at Ferris High School with free medical and dental, no strings attached.
In fact, there was not a slot left open for residents who needed medical and dental care, “all slots were filled and there was a waiting list of people hoping there would be some cancellations,” Williams added. “We deemed this a successful event.”
And while most people say “nothing is free” in this case it was an event offered by the City of Ferris and the Ferris Fire Department in partnership with MD Health Pathways, Ferris Family Medicine, Jet Dental and Texas A&M Dentistry.
“Operation Ferris was just one more positive trend that we are pleased we were able to offer our residents/customers for a 100% quality of life,” Williams concluded. “We are focused on local solutions that meet the needs of our citizens. We believe that the creative solutions we offer our residents show we are a city that cares even while honoring a desire for limited government, yet still providing valuable services to our residents.”
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