Health Volunteers Overseas
P.O. Box 65157
Washington Station
Washington, DC 20035-5157
(202) 296-0928
St. Joseph Medical Center
P.O. Box 1935
South Bend, Indiana 46634
(219) 237-7637
Volunteerism
Free clinics came into being in the 1960s. They
primarily served the homeless and the
underprivileged. While many still cater to
indigent populations, numerous clinics serve
working people who lack insurance coverage. What
was originally begun as a fringe
movement has evolved into a significant--if only
partial--way to alleviate the health
care crisis.
Free clinics provide physicians a chance to
serve patients unencumbered by red tape
and insurance regulations. They offer quality
medical care that would otherwise not be
available, because they operate on the
principle that health care is a right and not a priv-
ilege. At most free clinics, part-time
volunteer physicians (and medical students) offer
out-patient primary care assisted by volunteer
lay people. Administrative chores may be
handled by salaried personnel and care is
usually provided on the basis of genuine need.
Many patients earn too much to qualify for
public assistance, but too little to pay for
medical benefits through insurance
coverage.
To accommodate their working clientele, free
clinics are usually open during the
evenings. Most consist of an examining room, a
small lab, and a dispensary, and can
usually have some lab and X-ray work performed
at local facilities. The sites of free
clinics vary, some being in donated church
basements; others in better facilities. In most
cases, clinics need to be accessible to public
transportation and an area considered safe
by the volunteers. Since clinics usually do not
receive governmental support, they are
free from paper work and needed funds are
supplied by grants, donations, and fund-rais-
ing events.
Physicians donate their time in varying amounts
ranging from once a week to once
every several months. Interns and
residents--whose time is extremely limited--offer
their services out of a desire to contribute to
the welfare of the community. Some volun-
teer physicians are retirees.
Perhaps one of the considerations causing
physicians to be reluctant to donate time
is the malpractice liability issue. All states
have Good Samaritan laws, but they vary,
and not all offer free clinics immunity from
negligence suits.
The high cost of prescription drugs presents a
special problem: Free clinics try to
secure samples donated by physicians or
pharmaceutical companies or they distribute
generic drugs that they purchase.
At this time free clinics offer a much-needed
outlet for worthwhile services that the
medical community can provide.
PROFESSIONAL HAZARDS
The practice of medicine, like other
professions, has inherent occupational hazards, such
as becoming infected with a bacterium or virus,
and the very real risk of being sued for
malpractice. Physicians take precautions for
such problems by being careful in their
management techniques and treatment and
securing adequate liability insurance cover-
age. In addition, there is a more subtle way in
which physicians can be severely
impaired. In the intense drive to achieve
professional success, they may ignore their
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