A grant that might have led to health care coverage for the uninsured in Richmond and Columbia counties won't be coming, but University Hospital and Medical College of Georgia say the plan isn't dead.

The definition of an at-risk child varies depending on whom you ask. "Some say they are children who are at risk for substance abuse or educational failure," said Kevin Grigsby, a social worker and professor of psychiatry and health behavior at the Medical College of Georgia. Georgians for Children, an Atlanta-based child advocacy group, says meeting three of four characteristics for poverty puts children at risk for a disadvantaged life.

Rena Bronson of Macon comes home from work and makes a pot of coffee before sneaking off to the bathroom to feed her habit. She pulls out a plastic baggie full of hard, crumbling white chunks and then pops a piece in her mouth. "I eat dirt with the door closed," she said, laughing and a little embarrassed because she is a nurse at the Bibb County Health Department. "I just call it eating dirt. That's what I do. Every day that God sends that's what I do. Technically, I guess I'm supposed to be crazy for eating this stuff?"