photos by jon styer Nearly 1,000 patients per year are seen at the Free Clinic in downtown Harrisonburg. The staff and volunteers include (from left): Jay Landis ’54, Janice Gandy ‘87, Miriam “Mim” Yoder ’08, Wes Ross ’74, Richard Stoltzfus ’59, Herbert Swartz (professor emeritus), Elaine Stoltzfus (seminary attendee), Cathy Rittenhouse ’82, Laura Rhodes ’06, Keith Gnagey ’76, Suzy Kanode ’93.
HCHC and helped found the program (she is also David Cockley’s daughter). Jointly administered by EMU and HCHC, the program employed four women to educate and support highneeds patients by visiting them at home. That year, HCHC also became the parent organization for the Healthcare for the Homeless Suitcase Clinic described earlier. (The homeless clinic has since spun off as its own outfit, and the grant that funded the Community Health Worker program has expired.) The next year, HCHC opened a satellite office at the Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community that, like the main office on the east side of town, is open to the entire community. Wagler notes that EMU’s emphasis on peace and justice also have direct tie-ins to healthcare. “Healthcare is a justice issue,” she says. “There is no bigger issue, in my mind, than ensuring that every single person has meaningful access to quality care if they want it. “Working in healthcare is not for the weary,” she continues. “Navigating the brokenness within the various systems can be exhausting at times. Yet amidst all of this, there is change, which creates movement. It’s an exciting time.” Wagler finds hope in there being so many others here in Harrisonburg doing their own bit to untangle one of our society’s most difficult problems. 10 | crossroads | spring 2014
THE FREE CLINIC Nearly 1,000 patients per year come through the doors of the HarrisonburgRockingham Free Clinic in downtown Harrisonburg. To qualify for services there, a person has to have an income at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty limit, be an authorized resident of Harrisonburg or Rockingham County, and have no health insurance. The clinic focuses on treatment and management of chronic health problems; nearly twothirds of its patients have been diagnosed with three or more chronic diseases, says executive director Keith Gnagey ’76. With just two full-time staff – Gnagey and an office manager – and 12 parttime employees, the clinic relies almost entirely on several hundred volunteers, who see patients, run lab tests, work the pharmacy and fill pretty much every other role there. The fact that volunteers perform the most skilled and fundamental roles at the Free Clinic distinguishes it from many other nonprofits. “It’s not just putting on stamps and folding mailings. It’s about getting healthcare out the door,” says Gnagey. Among the doctors who volunteer at the clinic are Wes Ross ’74, who sees patients there once per week and also serves as its medical director (a position that entails things like chart reviews and signing off on lab reports) and Don Martin, class of ’79, a rheumatologist who sees patients at the clinic once a month.
“There’s no way in our lifetime that all the inequities in our society are going to be resolved, but those of us who have opportunity to work on that should,” says Martin. “We can’t, as individuals, solve some of our bigger problems, but we can certainly try to address some of these things that are in our own back yard.” Internist Richard Stoltzfus ’59, who used to treat coal miners in Harlan County, Ky., before he officially retired, sees patients once a week, working alongside his wife Elaine Stoltzfus, who is a health educator. (Elaine spent 196162 studying at EMU’s seminary.) Clinical services director Janice Good Gandy ’87 said the rewards of working at the clinic include knowing that “you’re really helping a very needy population, and you can really see it make a difference in their lives.” In her current role, Gandy manages the schedules of the volunteer doctors and nurse practitioners; before taking the part-time job at the clinic, she volunteered there and also taught at EMU. The biggest challenge at the Free Clinic from a healthcare standpoint, Gandy says, is the fact that patients face so many economic and social barriers to maintaining healthy lifestyles. “We just have to do so much education. Sometimes it’s like we do all we can, and we just hit the wall,” says Gandy, who often draws on lessons about holistic well-being, and viewing specific health