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Free clinic (part 2) coming

By Mike Conley | The McDowell News

Published: October 6, 2009

By the end of the year, McDowell County should have a new free medical clinic, one that will provide care to the hundreds of people without health insurance and in need of a doctor's attention.
The new clinic is not affiliated with God's Country Outreach Ministry, which operated the first one. That clinic, started by the Rev. Reggie Killough and his wife Shirley, stopped operating in July and state officials are looking at the way the organization handled money.
The new clinic – without input from the Killoughs – will be called the Good Samaritan Clinic of McDowell County and will be located in the office of Dr. Nisha Patel at 6 E. Medical Court. An opening date has not yet been set but it should start seeing patients by the end of the year, according to Jaime Rankin Stone, who will be the clinic's director.
"For us, the desire to help the underprivileged in our county has never faltered," wrote Stone in a letter to prospective board members. "We propose a new free clinic: the Good Samaritan Clinic of McDowell County. Good Samaritan will be staffed by volunteers and supported by churches."
On Tuesday, Stone and fellow volunteer Becky Gorecki spoke to The McDowell News. Gorecki works as a nurse with the local Health Department and, like Stone, she worked at the previous clinic operated by God's Country. She will work as a volunteer nurse with the Good Samaritan clinic.
Dr. Don Teater, who was the medical director for the first one, has agreed to take over the same duty with the new clinic. He runs two free clinics in Haywood County and started another in Robbinsville. Both he and his wife, Martha, have dedicated their lives to helping the uninsured get medical care. They closed up their successful private family practice in Waynesville to devote themselves full-time to their free clinics. For their dedication, The Mountaineer in Haywood County named them the 2008 People of the Year.
"He is a missionary if there ever was one," said Stone.
"Everything he has done he had done for free," said Gorecki.
The same can be said for the other people who will work at the new one.
"Everyone at the new clinic is a volunteer," said Stone. "No one is being paid."
However, the new operation needs some money in order to get started. Good Samaritan will hold its first fund-raiser on Saturday during the Mountain Glory festival. A yard sale is planned for that day in the parking lot of the Marion Credit Co. at 216 S. Main St., across from the Marion Post Office. It will start at 7:30 a.m.
Stone and Gorecki said they have gotten a lot of donated items for the yard sale including clothes, shoes, a set of golf clubs, a stereo, microwave oven and others. "A lot of people from the churches are donating to this," said Stone. "Our goal is to have all the churches involved."
"It's going to be a community effort," said Gorecki.
The organizers hope to raise around $1,000 in order to get supplies and equipment for the new clinic. They will also accept donations at the yard sale. Volunteers are also welcome to come and lend a hand. You don't have to have a medical background in order to volunteer, said Stone and Gorecki.
And on Tuesday, Oct. 20, a representative from the N.C. Association of Free Medical Clinics will meet with the new clinic's steering committee. The organizers will also apply for a grant from the N.C. Office of Rural Health.
The clinic's board of directors consist of YMCA Director Tim Blenco, physician Dr. Greg Constanzo, dentist Dr. Gary Grindstaff, registered nurse Sandra Jones, EMS Director William Kehler, City Councilman Billy Martin, registered nurse Terry Menard, businesswoman Beth Ross, insurance agent Phil Tate and bankers Beth Walker and David Wooten. Attorney Steve Little is doing the legal work for the new clinic and helping it get incorporated.
Some the members of the steering committee are the Rev. Scott Hagaman of the First Baptist Church of Marion, social worker Janice Daves, the Rev. Michael Swofford of the First United Methodist Church of Marion and businessman Sim Butler. Drs. Mark Burton, Edward St. Bernard and Patel, along with physician assistant Gerry Gorst, will be on the medical team.
Some of these people volunteered with the first clinic operated by God's Country, which first opened in March. After only four months of operation on Tuesday evenings and Saturdays, that clinic qualified more than 300 McDowell residents as patients. Many of them are folks who have lost their jobs recently and don't have health insurance.
When that clinic shut down, those folks found themselves without a place to go.
"We had over 300 patients that were just dropped," said Stone.
The volunteers with the new clinic are hoping these folks will come back and help them pick up where they left off.
"The response we had was overwhelming," said Stone. "I cried with some people and hugged some people."