By Jamie Strickland
Behind the scenes at Johnston Medical Mall is a dedicated team working every day to ensure that residents without health insurance aren’t left behind. Leading that effort is Georgia Anthony, a 52-year healthcare veteran whose work has centered on making care accessible to everyone — especially those who need it most.
Anthony is the director and driving force behind Project Access, a program that has connected thousands of uninsured adults with essential medical services since its founding in 2006. What began as a small initiative has grown into a cornerstone of community care, and she has been there from the very beginning.
For her vision, compassion, and enduring commitment to making healthcare accessible, Georgia Anthony is this year’s recipient of the Johnston Now Honors Best Healthcare Professional Award.
She became involved in the program when she and her husband relocated from Ohio when he accepted a position with Johnston Health. She was retired from nursing at the time, but that didn’t last long. Anthony helped write the initial grant to get the program off the ground, and when a staff member left during the program’s first year, she was asked to pitch in by answering phones.
“I started in the morning answering phones and by noon I was enrolling new patients,” she said. “It was just so needed. And so, I’ve never left.”
That need was apparent from the outset. “We had 200 people on a waiting list once they heard about us,” she said. “People were standing at our door. I can remember this husband and wife that came and he had lost his job. They said this was the last place they wanted to be, but they needed help.”
Getting to know the people they served, their stories and the details of their lives created strong bonds between patients and staff throughout the years.
Today, Project Access serves adults between the ages of 19 and 65 — an often-overlooked group that tends to fall between the cracks since they don’t receive help for programs available to children and the elderly. To qualify, individuals must fall below the federal poverty level, meaning they have an annual income under $39,000. Many of them are unfamiliar with the healthcare system and don’t even know where to begin. That’s where Project Access steps in, guiding patients toward long-term solutions, not just emergency fixes.
The program helps patients access primary and specialty care,including gastroenterology and endocrinology, and helps cover essential medications such as insulin. It also provides medical equipment like blood pressure cuffs and glucometers so patients can better monitor and manage chronic conditions. The focus is on helping patients stabilize their health so they can possibly return to work and have a better quality of life.
Some patients are matched with physicians directly, while others are seen during special clinics arranged to help clear waiting lists and meet demand. This flexibility has helped Project Access serve more than 7,000 people since its inception, and its impact continues to grow.
Additionally, it reduces the burden on local emergency rooms by allowing patients to be seen by primary care physicians on a regular basis.
“We were actually recognized for being the program that had the most reduction in A1C,” Anthony said. “So we improved our patients’ A1C each and every time for the past three years.”
She also shared a moment that has stayed with her over the years. “This guy walked past my office and he said, ‘Hey.’ I said, ‘Hi?’ He said ‘You saved my life.’ I said ‘What do you mean?’ He said ‘Well, I enrolled in Project Access and got to see a GI doctor and had a cancerous polyp removed.’ And there are so many more stories.”
Anthony brings a rare depth of understanding to her work, thanks to a long and varied healthcare career. She began as a certified nursing assistant in 1974 and later worked as a licensed practical nurse, an ER nurse in a Level 1 trauma center, a LifeFlight assistant and a hospital administrator. Her experiences across so many levels of care have shaped her approach and deepened her compassion for the patients Project Access serves.
With a staff of five, the program now operates out of the Johnston Medical Mall, a location chosen to keep services close to the people who need them most. The program’s funding has evolved over time. Originally supported by the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, it is now backed by the Duke Endowment with some support from Johnston County, the ABC Board, Blue Cross Blue Shield and the Johnston Health Foundation. UNC Health Johnston contributes a full-time staff member to assist the team.
The program’s partnership with UNC Health Johnston has also expanded the reach of its services. With more specialists practicing in Johnston County and more patients eligible for UNC’s charity care program, access to care has never been greater.
There are 18 similar programs across North Carolina and 11 in South Carolina that receive funding from the Duke Endowment. In 2011, Anthony helped establish a branch of the program in Harnett County as well.
Though she could have retired years ago, she continues to serve, driven by the stories, the outcomes and the people.
