By Aine Cryts
At the Doctors' Volunteer Clinic of St. George, Utah, the acts of kindness are large. The clinic's 15 volunteer physicians, along with a number of nurses, provide physical, dental and mental health services for uninsured patients who live 200 percent below the federal poverty guidelines, reports The Spectrum & Daily News.
The clinic, which got its start in 1999, received more than 11,000 patient visits in 2015, during which time volunteers donated almost as many hours. Some volunteer physicians are in active practice, while others are retired, according to the news outlet.
There's been an increase in suicides in the area, all the more reason the clinic's patients, 45 percent of whom are unemployed, need access to its emergency care, Deanne Staheli, director of the clinic, told the publication. From providing dental work to treating diabetes, the clinic's volunteers have helped to prevent uninsured patients from being admitted to the hospital, she said.
"It's a community-based solution for the medically underserved and it's nice to be able to provide that service to take care of our own," Bryant Whiting, M.D., a urologist who has volunteered at the clinic for four years, told the newspaper.
The non-profit health clinic is funded entirely through private donations, according to the St George News. Ninety-six percent of the funding goes directly to patient care, the newspaper said. Patients aren't charged for the care they receive, but are asked to give a $10 donation. Those who can't afford a donation often give back in other ways, such as cleaning the clinic or mowing the lawns, Operations Manager Melissa Lewis told the publication.
Volunteering their time is one way some physicians have found can keep or rekindle their joy in medicine, as FiercePracticeManagement previously reported.
To learn more:
- read The Spectrum article
- here's the St George News story
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