Catholic Charities is recruiting volunteer medical staff – Arkansas Catholic
The clinic gets a new name and continues to provide free medical care to those in need
Published: January 31, 2023
Chris Price
Volunteers at the Catholic Charities Medical Clinic, seen here on January 10, include (front row, from left) Vallon Williams; dr Susana Granell-Belmunt and Gail Runnells; (back row, left to right) Dr. Steven McKee; dr Jeffrey Carfagno, Dr. David Reding and Lyndsey Pardue.
For more than 50 years, Arkansas Catholic Charities have partnered with volunteer medical providers to provide free healthcare to residents of central Arkansas.
Under a new name, it plans to hire, modernize and grow to better serve its goal of helping those in need.
The Catholic Charities Medical Clinic, formerly the Westside Free Medical Clinic, at St. John Center in Little Rock, ministers to people without means to pay for health care and medication, said Janice Bohac, who was hired as the clinic’s director in August.
She replaces Karen DiPippa, who retired in July after 33 years as director.
“Our mission to provide free charitable primary medical care and charitable pharmacy to these patients will remain the same as we have had since our inception on February 24, 1971,” Bohac said. “We are focused on providing free health care to those in need who do not have health insurance and cannot afford prescriptions. Some of these people have no money. They can’t afford $10 for a clinic visit or a prescription.”
“Our mission of providing free charitable primary medical care and charitable pharmacies to these patients will remain the same as we have had since our inception on February 24, 1971,” she said. “We are focused on providing free health care to those in need who do not have health insurance and cannot afford prescriptions. Some of these people have no money. They can’t afford $10 for a clinic visit or a prescription.”
Since taking the lead, Bohac’s protégé has been helping the clinic bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic. For now, this means the clinic will focus solely on primary care and pharmacy. Patient visits are only possible on Wednesday evenings from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. by appointment. The clinic works with other healthcare organizations, including CHI St. Vincent and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, both in Little Rock, to obtain referrals to specialists.
“Our biggest goal right now is to expand our volunteer base to further our mission in philanthropy by giving and serving the patients we see,” she said.
The clinic is currently staffed by 13 doctors, nurses, pharmacists and Spanish-speaking interpreters who offer their time and services free of charge, but Bohac, a member of Our Lady of Fatima Church in Benton, has made it a point to provide the volunteer medical staff to meet the demands of patients. The clinic is also upgrading its electronic patient and pharmacy record systems to better connect and seamlessly share information with other providers and pharmacies to improve the continuum of care.
“If we can build our volunteer base, we can expand our current model and then add more patients and more services,” she said.
Dennis Lee, Chancellor of Administrative Affairs for the Diocese of Little Rock, said the clinic’s name change was made to better reflect its mission among Arkansas’ Catholic charities.
“It was called the Westside Free Medical Clinic because it was on the west side of Little Rock when it was founded. When the clinic’s physical facilities were moved here to the Arkansas Catholic Charities, the name just didn’t fit anymore and it was time to change it,” Lee said. “Sometimes when I spoke to people, if I said Westside Free Medical Clinic, they had no idea it was a ministry of the Arkansas Catholic Church. The clinic is open to people – medical staff and patients – of all faiths, but changing the name is a job for what we do and for people to recognize what we do as part of Catholic charities.”
Bohac said medical professionals who volunteer three hours a week can have a major impact on the lives of people who have nowhere else to get medical care.
“So many countless volunteers have given their time over the last 50 years, including some who have been volunteering for 30 years,” Bohac said. “It is the passion of these volunteers that makes our clinic and service possible. If there’s a doctor, nurse or pharmacist out there who volunteers their time for a good cause, we’d love to speak to them. It doesn’t have to be a big commitment. I hope that passion will be cultivated in our message so that others will want to give and support what we have been doing for the last 50 years and keep it going for another 50 years.”
For more information, to volunteer or to schedule an appointment, call Catholic Charities Medical Clinic at (501) 664-0340.
Please read our comment policy before posting.
Article comments powered by
