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ED WAS FIFTY-SIX YEARS OLD when he came to Clinic with a Heart. He was a brittle diabetic and was released from prison two weeks prior. He was almost out of insulin and diabetic supplies.
What a quandary -- trying to get a new start in life but not having a job, having a health concern and not being able to find a medical home. After visiting with a medical provider, Ed was given a prescription for insulin and supplies to last thirty days -- all paid for by financial donations to Clinic with a Heart. The Discharge volunteer worked with Ed on a plan for how he would find a medical home to manage his diabetes in the long run.
As an urgent care clinic, we don't get to know our patients one-on-one like a medical home but we do know that the kindness we show can be a seed that grows in the hearts of our patients. Hopefully the love and respect shown to Ed when he came to Clinic with a Heart will sustain him on his struggle to establish himself in the community.
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AFTER A BITTER DIVORCE, Margaret moved back to Lincoln from Texas. She came with her two children, aged 7 and 9, to be close to her family. Her circumstances left her in a financial bind, and her children needed physicals to get into school.
Margaret turned to Clinic with a Heart for her family’s medical needs. During the physicals, her son did not pass the vision screening. Margaret was relieved to learn she could bring him back in two weeks to see an optometrist and get a prescription for glasses paid for by the Star City LIONS club.
Margaret is lucky -- she has a supportive family and has found work. She is also appreciative that her kids could be seen at Clinic with a Heart. It makes getting started just a little easier.
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YI WAS BORN AND RAISED IN A SMALL VILLAGE IN BURMA. In the crosshairs of great political unrest in her country, her village was burned down. She and her husband fled the country and lived in a Thailand resettlement camp for two years. Eventually, they
Those first few months were difficult. The culture, the weather, and the food were all so different. She did not know how to speak or read English, and even though she was given Medicaid, she had no idea what it all meant.
Yi came to Clinic with a Heart with an outreach volunteer from First Baptist Church, who helped her find an interpreter to bring to the clinic. She had been feeling ill for several months, and given what she had been through over the last few years, was very worried. It turned out that Yi was pregnant. She was overjoyed.
The Discharge volunteer worked with her to better understand the importance of prenatal care. The Volunteer from First Baptist helped her to make the necessary appointments to make sure both she and the baby were well taken care of.
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YOUNG, ATHLETIC AND WORKING IN A FAST-FOOD RESTAURANT, John never thought about what would happen if he needed to see a doctor or dentist. That all changed when he fell off his bike on the way to work.
John knocked out a tooth and his back began to ache. His friend told him about Clinic with a Heart. One night he came and saw a dentist, a medical provider and a physical therapist. The Dentist consulted with him about his teeth. It looked like he hadn't been to a dentist in a long time. He was referred to the Dental College for some of the work and the Lancaster County Health Department for the rest. He also took home an exercise plan to help relieve some of the tension he was feeling in his back.
When John left the clinic he was very thankful we were there for him. The discharge volunteer talked to him about a medical home. He said he just couldn't afford to go somewhere -- even if they had a sliding fee scale.
