Good to Know: Their Mission is Health Care

By Desiree Parker Tuesday, November 10, 2009

I had a chance to take a tour of Lackey Free Clinic in York County last week. I’ve done stories about the clinic on occasion in the past, sharing information about some of the good work they do, but I certainly didn’t expect to end up in tears in my car when my visit was over.

The tour included me and about 7 other folks from the community who were interested in seeing what the clinic was all about. We all knew the basics – the clinic offers free health care and medication to people with no insurance who live below the poverty line.

That’s only the beginning of the story.

Begun in 1995 by Dr. Jim Shaw and his wife Cooka, the clinic started pretty humbly in the corner of a church. Since then, it’s grown to serve 7,500 patients as of 2008. Lackey Free Clinic has filled over 36,000 prescriptions, provided $6.2 million in services, and saved hospitals (and taxpayers) close to $7 million.

This is fantastic enough – but the real service the hundreds of volunteers and handful of paid staff offer isn’t just service. It’s respect, compassion and love.

A board member, the medical director, and countless other staff shared stories with the group about patients they remember and about their commitment to their calling. They left us all touched.

Dr. Catrell Owens-Agebeibor, (“call me Dr. Owens,” she tells folks), is the new medical director for the clinic. She’s been there for only 90 days, she told us, but already she’s found her true home.

She studied medicine with the explicit desire to spend her career working as a medical missionary doctor. “Medical missions in the United States is always where my heart has been,” she said. She had worked in Oklahoma and then in Tennessee, “but I felt like I wasn’t fulfilling my God-given mission to heal the body, spirit and soul.” So at age 40, she discovered the clinic, read its mission statement, and she and her husband packed up and moved to Virginia.

“This is it,” she told us. “This is what I feel like I was born to do.”

And her commitment was echoed by all the staff we stopped to talk to around the tiny, warmly decorated clinic.

The spirituality that motivates the volunteers is evident all around the clinic – it’s clean and homey décor, poetic scripture from the Bible on walls in every room, and a large cross in an upper window that casts its shadow over the central room.

A nurse practitioner jokes that even women getting pelvic exams will read the scripture on the wall and interrupt her to say, “That’s the most beautiful passage I’ve ever read.”

Volunteer Resource Manager Kim Spencer led the group through part of its tour. She pointed out that the clinic is grant sponsored, and not government sponsored, “so we can treat people how we feel they should be treated… we treat our patients as Jesus would treat them.”

Staff members talk about stopping work to pray with patients, or just take time out to listen to their stories. Though their tiny offices are always bustling – they treat 200 or more patients each week – they don’t forget that their patients are people, most of whom are struggling though tough times.

Elizabeth Hicks, a parent to a patient treated at the clinic, took time to sit down with the group and explain how important the staff has been to her life, and her son’s.

Her son, now 33, had to have surgery five years ago for a spinal cyst. After developing an infection, he soon had to have another operation. He was a cook, she said, and he had to quit his job. He had no insurance, and came to live with Hicks and her invalid husband. Her son had two more surgeries, and Hicks paid those bills, along with her husband’s. She worked one full-time job, and a part-time one as well.

“It was on me to take care of it all,” she said.

Soon after these surgeries, her son fell and ended up in the hospital. After being sent back home, he continued to suffer severe pain until he was diagnosed with avascular necrosis, deterioration of the hip joint.

Hicks’ son also suffers from bipolar disorder, and needs $200 worth of medications each month.

She was at the end of her rope, she said, when she saw an ad for the clinic. “[My son] was concerned they wouldn’t help since I work. But we got here and they said we should have come sooner…the first day he came, he said, ‘Mom, thank you. They prayed for me and I feel like a different person.’ I just think this is the most wonderful place,” Hicks said, and had to take a moment to wipe tears from her face.

Members of the group were crying at this point, too, and a box of tissues made its way around the table.

Hicks said that now she’s out of work now, too, and no longer has insurance for herself. “I know if I can’t find a job, they’ll be here for me, too.”

After the group broke up, Dr. Owens told me that the need in the community is especially high now. “In this economy, there’s just tremendous need,” she said. Even if some sort of federal healthcare bill is passed, “turnaround won’t be soon. It’ll take years.”

But the nearly 300 volunteers and 20 staff members don’t let things get them down. Their faith gives them hope, and this is what they share with people who come through the doors.

Meanwhile, the tiny clinic is ready to expand to help more people. Currently housed in about 4,000 square feet, a 6,000 square-foot addition is about ready to be built. Almost the whole amount for the addition has been raised, with only about $150,000 left to go.

I make my way out to the car and take time to dry my own eyes, and I think to myself, I wish I’d come for a visit sooner. Many residents in our community are suffering, but it’s good to know that people like those I met at Lackey Free Clinic are determined to keep their neighbors from falling through the cracks.

Visit their Web site and schedule your own visit there. They are always looking for volunteers; also, they’re looking for donations of various medical, dental, and general supplies. Call them at (757) 886-0608 for more information.

Know something that's good to know? Don't keep it to yourself; share it with Desiree Parker at desiree@wydaily.com">desiree@wydaily.com.