This story is Part 15 of a 15-part series that examines health care needs in Gary, Ind.

How will health care reform impact Gary and its citizens?

While the Republican-dominated U.S. House of Representatives voted to repeal the Accountable Care Act of 2010, the U.S. Senate isn’t likely to follow suit, meaning the landmark health reform legislation will continue to change the way many Americans receive health care.

This story is Part 14 of a 15-part series that examines health care needs in Gary, Ind.

When Shantray Hooks, of Gary, lost her job as a restaurant cook in August, she didn’t know how she would pay for doctor visits.

“I had no health insurance and I couldn’t afford to pay a doctor,” said Hooks, 29, who was diagnosed with diabetes several years ago.

A doctor referred her to the Community Health Net of Gary, a federally qualified community health center that provides comprehensive primary care health services and charges on a sliding fee scale for services.

This story is Part 12 of a 15-part series that examines health care needs in Gary, Ind.

John Grimm knows the city of Gary faces severe financial problems and didn’t expect city crews to plow all of its streets overnight after the recent blizzard.

But Grimm, the executive director of the South Shore Health & Rehabilitation Center in Gary, said during and after the storm city leaders failed to protect some of Gary’s most vulnerable residents when its crews neglected to plow the alleys and streets surrounding the nursing home.

Grimm said for an entire week the streets around the long-term care facility were not plowed, which he said “put the lives of many residents in jeopardy, as ambulances and emergency medical services and other medical providers were not able to access the facility.”