Providing healing and hope to underinsured and uninsured persons

Newsletter for
Fall, 2006

THE VOLUNTEER ISSUE
“Volunteers are not paid….not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless.”

Volunteers Make The Free Clinic Hum!

The Free Clinic of Central Virginia is fortunate to have almost 1,000 persons who volunteer their services during a calendar year.

This group is made up of over 200 physicians, who provide general medical and specialty services AT the clinic or in their offices. Although the latter
group are NOT listed individually on our website, many of their practices are listed. Over 125 physician volunteers provide services in the offices of Cardiology Associates, etc.

There are currently 53 dentists who volunteer at the clinic in the evenings and/or in the daytime as mentors/professors to graduating seniors from the VCU School of Dentistry. In 2005 over 100 dental students and 32 dental hygiene students completed “externship” work rotations at the Free Clinic. There were also 15-20 dental assistants and dental hygienists from Central Virginia who volunteered their services.

There are over 20 pharmacists and a number of pharmacy technicians who volunteer regularly at the Free Clinic. Approximately fifty students from Liberty University, RMWC, Lynchburg College, CVCC, and National Business College and local high schools complete six to twelve week internships at the clinic, work here with their college work-study program grants, and are simply volunteering in a given year.
The Free Clinic has fifty to sixty non-medical trained adults from our community who volunteer once per week or month and/or for special projects. These include office work, phones, bulk mailings, eligibility screening, painting projects, and general maintenance projects.

Finally, the Free Clinic has hundreds of other Central Virginians who volunteer to work on or participate in its many varied and unique fund-raising projects. These include, but are not limited to: The Downtown Loft Tour in February; An Annual Basketball Tournament in March; An Annual Golf Tournament in May/June; Friday Cheers in the summer; Hillcats Skybox Night in August; and the Smith Mountain Lake Home Tour in October.

Volunteers do make the Free Clinic hum!

Two Supreme Volunteers

Over the summer months, the Free Clinic “lost” two of its very cherished, longtime volunteers. Margaret Gregory “Greg” Arthur passed away on July 18 and Abigail McKenna Haney died on August 12.

“Greg” Arthur served on the Free Clinic’s Board of Directors from its founding and opening in 1987 until 1995. She and her husband, Lewis Angelo “Angie”, have been financial and public relations supporters of the Free Clinic for nineteen years.
Today, “Angie” remains a stalwart and popular mentor/professor in the daytime dental program. “Greg” Arthur gave her time as a volunteer in attempt to provide better health and dental care for the underinsured and uninsured in Central Virginia.

Abigail Haney served on the Board of Directors of the Free Clinic from 1997-2005. As a board member, she and her husband, Chuck, traveled with the Free
Clinic’s Outreach Programs to each county and throughout the City of Lynchburg every year. Abigail had the quiet sensitivity of a born leader. She led the Hostess Committee along with Kathryn Mays for the SML Home Tour for the past three years. As stated in her homily, “she drew a circle, and she brought people in”.

High School Students Volunteer in the Summer

Peakland Baptist’s Youth Group

This past summer over 20 high school students volunteered their time at the Free Clinic. In June, fifteen students from Peakland Baptist Church’s youth group under the supervision of Sandi Walton and Cindy Riley painted the exterior side of the building.
This was a one-time project done in one day. It really looks GREAT!

Five more students volunteered their time on a regular basis providing services to Free Clinic patients: Claire Zippel – 10th Grade (formerly V.E.S. student) – Front Office; Chrishonda Davis – 11th Grade at Heritage H.S. – Front Office; Christal Davis – 9th Grade at Heritage H.S. – Front Office; Richard Charles Gilmore – 12th Grade at New Covenant – Pharmaceutical & Dental Departments; and Maiken Hackman, Dental Assistant – 2006 E.C. Glass graduate.

Volunteer Highlight - Patsy Pinn

The Free Clinic has honored Patsy Pinn at each of its last two Volunteer Recognition Days. She was Presented with the Karen Goodwin Award for being a
“top notch” medical volunteer in 2005. In 2006, she received a “Life-Saver Award” from the staff for always coming in and supporting their work. Patsy is a certified medical assistant who works at CB Fleet in her day job. She is always at the clinic volunteering on Tuesday nights, and she will serve at other times when needed. Patsy is hardworking, diligent, caring, and is always pleasant. We are fortunate to work with her!

Cooperate Volunteers Participate in United Way Day of Caring

On Wednesday, May 24 over thirty volunteers arrived at the Free Clinic for the United Way of Central Virginia’s Annual Day of Caring. There were four women from Genworth who worked with Shannon Jarvis, MedsHelp Coordinator, to strip the wallpaper off the walls of two different rest rooms. After this, they painted the walls soft, pastel colors to provide a more appealing appearance There were three more women from C.B. Fleet Laboratories, who worked with Yolonda Johnson, Pharmacy Coordinator, to give a “spring cleaning” to the pharmacy. The shelves and walls were cleaned and reorganized.

There were over twenty-five Lynchburg College staff members from every department of the college who came to the clinic in two shifts under the supervision of Anne Gibbons. They painted the back of the building, constructed a wall to make a storage room, thoroughly cleaned and organized the basement, took three truck loads of junk to the city dump, moved file cabinets and shelving from the middle floor to the basement, and re-arranged and transported over 10,000 files from the middle floor to the basement.

With the assistance of these 32 wonderful persons, we accomplished over 16 days of work in one day.

THANKS to all of them for their time!

Medical Volunteers Honored

Three of our Free Clinic volunteer physicians Daniel Carey, M.D.;Thomas W. Eppes, Jr., M.D.; and Patricia A. Pletke, M.D., have been chosen as participants in the Claude Moore Physician Leadership Institute inaugural program.

This program incorporates a group of physician leaders whose goals are to work towards improving health care in Virginia. They do this through two components which are the Leadership Development Program and the Leadership Support Program. All of which is sponsored by the Medical Society of Virginia Foundation.

Board of Directors Volunteers

Three NEW members joined the Free Clinic’s Board of Directors in April 2006. They are: Harriet Whitten, Connie Shannon, and Dr. Patricia Pletke.

Harriet Whitten is a long-time resident of Lynchburg with her husband. Frank. She has worked in Development at RMWC, operated her own Development Consulting Company, and is currently the Director of Development at Patrick Boys & Girls Home.

Connie Shannon and her husband, Jim, who is a lawyer in Richmond moved to Lynchburg four years ago. Connie worked for twenty years in a family business, served as Alumni Fund Coordinator at RMWC, and she is currently the Development Director for CASA.

Dr. Pletke and her husband, Phil Dillard, have lived in Lynchburg for twenty years. Pat is on the teaching faculty as a practicing physician at the Lynchburg Family Practice on Langhorne Road. She was recently selected to attend the prestigious Claude Moore Physician Leadership Institute sponsored by the Medical Society of Virginia Foundation.

These women join an active, working board that averages 19 of 24 present at each board meeting and that is deeply committed to raising funds and supporting the mission of the Free Clinic.

The Board is a STRONG group of volunteers!

We Give Surpluses to Others

The Free Clinic has offered support to medical clinics in Virginia, the southeastern United States and around the world in the past twelve months. We have shipped our surplus medical and pharmaceutical supplies to Free Clinics in Virginia as well as had them transported to storm devastated and/or poor clinics. These donations have totaled over $50,000 in overall value since November 2005.

We have regularly sent our excesses to other Free Clinics throughout the Commonwealth since 2002; these clinics are not as fortunate as we are in the receipt of “in kind” donations. Beginning with two large shipments of medical supplies valued at over $20,000 in November 2005 to the Gulf States, we have extended our aid beyond Virginia’s borders. In Spring 2006, we provided medical supplies, through a third party, that were shipped to Port Au Prince, Haiti and Andijon, Ubekistan. This summer we have supplied surplus medications to clinics in Biloxi, Mississippi in August and Gulfport, Mississippi this September totaling $15,000. Our policy is to “help others”, whenever we can!

County Support is Increasing;
More Support is Needed

The FCCV is one of a handful of Central Virginia charities that provides services to the residents of the Cities of Lynchburg and Bedford as well as the Counties of Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford, and Campbell. In fact, the zip code data collected
by the Free Clinic indicates that there are LARGE numbers of people driving in from the counties for medical, dental, and pharmaceutical services on a daily basis.
As citizens of the counties become more aware of these numbers, we have seen increased gifts coming from the individuals who reside in these areas. We have not as yet seen increased support from the missionary funds of the county churches, but those in the City of Lynchburg are donating over $20,000 per year as a group to the clinic’s general operating budget. We have had some county corporate support from companies such as Grief in Amherst, Barr Labs, Frito Lay and Azdel in Bedford, and Abbott Labs in Altavista (Campbell County).

Foundations and Clubs/Organizations in the counties have begun to recognize the importance of the Free Clinic to county residents. The clinic has received donations from the Altavista Community Chest and the Bedford Community Health Foundation for a number of years. These funds are donated in support of county residents who get their health and dental care at the Free Clinic.
The Rotary Club in Campbell County has supported the Free Clinic in past years. Three years ago, the Amherst Thrift Shop run by the Episcopal Churches began to support the Free Clinic with regular, semi-annual donations. Recently, the Ruritan Club in Spout Springs made a significant donation to support their county residents, who get their services through the Free Clinic. The Lane Foundation in Altavista has also provided some recent support.

Volunteers Needed
We need the following expertise:

1.) Maintenance Person-To do odd jobs and repairs for 2-3 hours per month.
2.) Construction Person-To coordinate building projects for 3 hours per month.
3.) Eligibility Screeners-To interview possible patients on Tuesday mornings or evenings for one to four hours per month.
4.) Nurses-To staff clinics on one, two, three, or four Thursday nights per month or on occasional weekdays for specialty clinics.

CONTACT:
Bob Barlow or Jane Ayers @ 847-5877

Volunteer listings are posted here.

Smith Mountain Lake Charity Home Tour

This is an Opportunity to visit eight spectacular homes around the Lake. You can travel by car or boat. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, October 6-8, 2006.

Advance Tickets: $25/person (can be purchased at Tom Jones Drugs)

Day of Tour Tickets: $30/person

For detailed information visit the website: www.smlcharityhometour.com

Phone: 540-297-TOUR (8687)

Benefiting two Lynchburg Non Profits:Free Clinic of Central Virginia, Inc. & Meals on wheels

DID YOU KNOW

EVERY $1 DONATED to the FREE CLINIC in 2005 PROVIDED $8 in medical, dental, and/or pharmaceutical services to Central Virginians!

PLEASE HELP 

The Free Clinic Needs Your Financial Gifts. 
We thank you for your consideration: 
The Free Clinic of Central Virginia
1016 Main Street
Lynchburg, Virginia 24504