Dory Hulse, director of communications for U.Va.’s School of Nursing, spent the weekend with the hundreds of U.Va. volunteers who helped staff the Remote Area Medical clinic in Wise, Va. The annual clinic draws thousands of people from Southwest Virginia and neighboring states seeking medical attention. This is her third and final dispatch from the clinic.
July 24, Wise — Breakfast under the stars. Lions Club volunteers are serving a hot breakfast to all of us volunteers in a buffet line on the stage at the Wise County Fairgrounds. Groggy and bright-eyed people line up for pancakes, eggs, bacon, biscuits with sausage gravy, fruit and juice and coffee. Other volunteers are circulating through the parking lot with food for the patients. I had to clear foggy car windows this morning, but we’re all grateful for the chilly air. Soon enough it will be hovering around 100 degrees.
At least we all slept in beds and enjoyed showers. Out in that parking lot whole families have spent the night sleeping in cars, the backs of vans and in tents. Who are they? Stan Brock, founder of Remote Area Medical, and Dorrie Fontaine, dean of the U.Va. School of Nursing, are at the gate greeting hundreds of people eager for coveted first-come, first-served numbers that will gain them admission for free health care. I circulate through the crowd with an audio recorder and camera.
Dory Hulse, director of communications for U.Va.’s School of Nursing, is tagging along this weekend with the hundreds of U.Va. volunteers who are helping with the Remote Area Medical clinic being held in Wise, Va. The annual clinic draws thousands of people from Southwest Virginia and neighboring states seeking medical attention. She has agreed to provide us with updates through the blog as she goes along.
July 22, Wise — After six hours along interstates and country roads, through undulating banks of thick kudzu and past massive coal operations, my friend and I have arrived at the Wise County Fairgrounds to join the rest of the U.Va. team of volunteers gathering and preparing for the weekend’s annual free clinic.
Some have been here since Tuesday installing wiring and computer and communications networks. A group of Air National Guardsmen are hooking up generators to supply power for lights, equipment and air conditioning. The U.Va. telemedicine department is already geared up to connect patients and on-site clinicians with specialists back in Charlottesville for consultations. Pharmacy students from Virginia Commonwealth University are sorting and bottling medications under a tent and under the watchful eye of their professor. Nursing and medical students are hauling tables and equipment to help set up operations for triage and medical care.
Dory Hulse, director of communications for U.Va.’s School of Nursing, is tagging along this weekend with the hundreds of U.Va. volunteers who are helping with the Remote Area Medical clinic being held in Wise, Va. The annual clinic draws thousands of people from Southwest Virginia and neighboring states seeking medical attention. She has agreed to provide us with updates through the blog as she goes along.
July 21, Charlottesville — Like swallows to Capistrano, flocks of people are heading to Wise this weekend for one of the largest free clinics in the country. Organizers expect to see a repeat of last year’s 20 percent increase in the number of patients who drive for hours to get what may be the only health care they’ll have all year: medical, dental, vision and hearing.
Interesting piece in yesterday’s New York Times, featuring research led by U.Va. nursing professor Ann Hamric. It discusses how “the competing demands of administrators, insurance companies, lawyers, patients’ families and even one another” can cause nurses — and some doctors — to abandon hope of doing the thing that they believe is best for the patient.
