The TAP-IN Blog

Volunteering Helps Your Health

The January Issue of Mayo Clinic Women's Healthsource reports that older people who volunteer have lower rates of heart disease and live longer than peers who don’t volunteer. As reported in Newswise Medical News:

Volunteering can boost mental health; it’s a great way to stay connected socially; and those social connections help buffer stress and get a person through hard times. Women tend to be more adept at maintaining social ties, and volunteer activities can further strengthen a woman’s social network. Also, volunteering can provide a sense of purpose and vitality, key elements in helping stave off the depression that sometimes accompanies aging and isolation.

To realize the health benefits of volunteering, a commitment of 40 to 100 hours a year is needed, studies have shown. That equates to a couple of hours a week.

Mayo Clinic Women’s HealthSource offers these tips to get started:

Determine your interests: Think about what’s enjoyable and makes you happy. Or focus on an issue that you care deeply about. Consider skills you’ve developed over the years and can share, or skills you’d like to learn.

Find organizations and opportunities: Do online research, check community bulletin boards or visit the local library to find volunteer opportunities. Places that often need help include hospitals, schools, libraries, food banks, religious organizations, parks, environmental programs, youth groups, humane societies, historic sites and arts organizations. Consider reaching beyond your local community to participate in a volunteer vacation in other states or abroad.

Decide on how much time you can offer: Opportunities range from getting involved in short-term events such as fundraising walks or bicycle rides to longer-term, ongoing activities such as tutoring.

Make your move: Phone or visit the organization you’re interested in to determine if the mutual fit is a good one. If it’s not, keep looking. Many organizations would welcome the skills and wisdom you can share.

“Volunteers are not paid; not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless.”

So reads a sign in the break room of the Arthur Nagel Community Clinic in Bandera, Texas.

The clinic makes preventive and primary care available to Bandera County residents at no cost or low cost – depending on family income – to those who are uninsured. Chronic conditions, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and depression are all dealt with through Risk Busters, the clinic’s preventive healthcare program.

The Nagel Clinic fills a definite need in our county as evidenced by the fact that:

• There is no hospital or emergency care facility in Bandera County – a county with a population of more than 20,000.

• A report by the Texas Department of State Health Services indicated that there were 9,488 residents per direct-care physician in Bandera County. Statewide, there are 661 people per physician.

• The county has been designated a Medically Underserved Area since 1978.

• Those without insurance – estimated to be one in four Bandera residents – often do not seek medical care until they are seriously ill and must call the EMS for transport to emergency care in another county.

You may ask how a private not-for-profit clinic can operate in today’s high-cost medical marketplace without charging the outrageous fees characteristic of our nation’s for-profit health insurance system.

Make a visit to the Arthur Nagel Community Clinic on the campus of Helping Hand in downtown Bandera and you will find the answer in a single word: volunteerism. There is a sign in the coffee break room that reflects the operating philosophy: “Volunteers are not paid; not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless.”

Volunteers raised the money to build and operate the clinic. Pat Breedlove and his “Fun Raising” Committee raised $127,000 in Bandera County for the clinic’s first year of operation.

The clinic is operated by three employees and a volunteer staff of 20, half of whom are medical professionals. Here are some examples of just a few of the dedicated volunteers:

• Medical Director Saleh Jaafar, M.D., reviews patients’ charts. He takes time away from his own family practice to serve the Community Clinic without compensation.

• Cheryl Finch manages the Prescription Assistance Program and works two 10-hour days every week to make sure clinic patients have the medications they need.

• Donna Graham works long hours as a receptionist volunteers her time.

Our community clinic also benefits from volunteerism on a state and national level. As a member of the National Association of Free Clinics and the Lone Star Association of Charitable Clinics, the Nagel Clinic receives free equipment and free and low-cost medications. Both are nonprofit corporations, run entirely by unpaid volunteers who work with pharmaceutical companies to provide free and low-cost prescriptions to patients who otherwise would go without.

Hundreds of Bandera County volunteers are working right now to raise money to help pay the clinic’s 2009 operating costs. Some are selling tickets to the Jan. 24 and 25 stage production of “Always…Patsy Cline.” Others are signing up to compete in the February Stationary Marathon, hosted by Comprehensive Physical Therapy & Bandera Fitness. Every committee member and every donor is a clinic volunteer and part of the clinic’s healthcare team.

So, Why Volunteer? The Volunteers Speak...

Hi

At TAP-IN, we have had some people volunteering their services to free clinics for some time, while others have just begun to engage.  I thought it would be interesting to ask those volunteers to share their thoughts on the big question: "Why Volunteer?"  What follows (hopefully) will be some perspectives and personal testimony on why some health care professionals choose to volunteer in the first place...

Increase in Community Health Centers - What about Free Clinics?

The NY Times ran an article about the increase in funding for community health centers - Expansion of Clinics Shapes a Bush Legacy

An interesting article, but one major piece missing is the impact of free clinics, with the model of locally-run, volunteer-based services to the uninsured.  The article does talk about the fact that, growth of health centers or not, there still is a shortage of primary care physicians that has to be solved.  That's where the TAP-IN model of re-engaging retired health care professionals via volunteering at free clinics comes in...

The other misconception is that, because these health centers take Medicare, all is well because Medicare takes care of everyone.  Fact is, Medicare covers but a small fraction of the uninsured, and is very limiting.  Just sorting through the rules of who is eligible can be daunting.

That's why we at TAP-IN believe working with free clinics and local communities, with the help of volunteer physicians, is the right approach.  While indeed one may accuse free clinics and other safety net providers of being a 'bandaid' and not the solution, until others smarter than me figure out the solution, the free clinics and others will continue on, TODAY, helping the uninsured.  Probably a wise move not to wait on the solution, since we've been hearing talk of solving this for well over 30 years now...

Encore Careers Announces 2008 Purpose Prize Winners

Encore Careers is a new initiative of Civic Ventures.  "The Encore Careers campaign aims to engage millions of boomers in encore careers, providing personal fulfillment doing paid work and producing a windfall of human talent to solve society's greatest problems."

Yesterday, Encore Careers announced its 2008 role models for those of us looking to recreate ourselves in new careers for this new stage of our lives. Each of these six entrepreneurs over 60 receives a $100,000 grant to support their new work. Nine others receive $10,000 each.

All of the winners are engaged in socially beneficial activities, from inventing new technologies for poor farmers to helping war refugees to reducing toxins in household products.

As I approach the big Six Oh, I understand what has driven these people to start new careers with new purposes. We learn through our first rounds of career what it is that we'd really like to be doing, and recognizing the needs of others - and our abilities to address those needs - is one of the greatest things we learn.

This weblog contains many examples of medical professionals who - after long careers in offices and hospitals - describe whole new experiences as they practice as volunteers in clinics.

TAP-IN Launches in Cleveland

Area Program Looks to Recruit Retired Medical Professionals, Respond to Uninsured

CLEVELAND, Oct 14, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- As the number of uninsured reaches 46.6 million nation-wide, the demand for free health clinics that rely on healthcare professionals to donate their time rises. According to a Families USA report released in September 2008, family health insurance premiums in the state rose by 76.4 percent, while median earnings only rose by 8.9 percent. This trend puts many more Ohio residents at risk of joining the ranks of the uninsured and increases the demand for free clinic services. These clinics are in great need of primary care physicians, specialists, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, psychiatrists, and social workers to provide the comprehensive healthcare that area residents would otherwise, not receive. At the same time clinics are faced with a downward trend in volunteerism among younger, actively participating clinicians. That's where a non-profit program called TAP-IN, www.tap-in.org, funded by The American Health Initiative, aims to fill in the gap.

TAP-IN is reaching out to connect the area's retired and semi-retired health professionals with those who need them. TAP-IN does this by assisting the nation's highest-quality free clinics to help meet the critical needs of their communities, by engaging health professionals living in and around them.

TAP-IN, which currently operates in the states of Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia, chose Cleveland due to the well established network of free clinics already in place and the concentration of retired health professionals in the greater metropolitan area. TAP-IN is currently working with three clinics in the area: The Free Medical Clinic of Greater Cleveland, North Coast Health Ministry, and the Lorain County Free Clinic.
Using the volunteer services of TAP-IN Clinicians provides benefits to both clinics and clinicians:

-- Free clinics gain access to a pool of experienced clinicians to help meet their volunteer needs and expand services to the uninsured.
-- The uninsured in the community, particularly those with chronic diseases, are provided increased access to care by experienced clinicians.
-- The community safety net is strengthened, and demand on already strained hospital emergency rooms and private physician offices is reduced, while achieving significant and quantifiable savings.
-- Healthcare professionals are provided an opportunity to engage once more in a meaningful way by doing what they do best -- practicing their chosen profession in an enjoyable and rewarding environment without the hassles of administrative paperwork.

Health professionals can learn about and register for the program through the Web site www.tap-in.org or by calling 877-605-3250. Interested volunteers will be matched with clinic needs, ideally leading to agreement between the volunteer and clinic to proceed. Program participants will have access to an online community to share ideas, interests and experiences.

TAP-IN.org was founded by The American Health Initiative ( www.americanhealthinitiative.org) to provide a program to help meet critical needs of free clinics through the volunteer engagement of senior health professionals to care for the uninsured. Intended to be a national program, TAP-IN was introduced in the Spring of 2006 in Virginia and North Carolina in partnership with both the Virginia and North Carolina Free Clinic Associations. The program is supported by a two-year initiating grant from The Atlantic Philanthropies.

Volunteers in Medicine Now Has Clinics in 22 States

An article on the web site "A Highly Placed Source" describes the growth and status of Volunteers in Medicine (VIM), an organization begun in 1992 with a single clinic on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. As described in the article, VIM is "an organization whose mission is to promote and guide the development of a national network of free clinics, is utilizing retired medical professionals and lay volunteers to care for the uninsured within a culture of caring."

Today, with clinics serving 66 communities in 22 states, VIM claims to have used the volunteer services of "250,000+ retired physicians and 350,000 retired nurses" to provide health care to the uninsured.

“No community can be truly healthy if a significant portion of the population is excluded from basic health care services,” says Amy Hamlin, executive director of Volunteers in Medicine. “In the absence of a national health policy that includes health care for everyone, concerned citizens need to find other solutions to provide the medically under-served with the health care services they desperately need. Volunteers in Medicine delivers on such solution.”

The article goes on to describe the grim health care scenario facing the country - a situation that will only be worsened by the current economic downturn.

Even if everyone were to become insured tomorrow, there is not enough current or future primary care capacity to provide health care to all Americans. Over one-third of active physicians are over age 55 and with many choosing early retirement, there will be a deficit of primary care physicians by 2020. Faced with lower reimbursement rates, excessive work loads, and rising medical school costs, fewer graduates are choosing primary care. “Empowering retired physicians to practice the ‘pure medicine’ they crave without the ‘business’ of medicine is the common sense approach that Volunteers in Medicine provides. This is one solution to improving the long term health of our country,” continued Hamlin.

Some 313,000 of the active physician population are over 55. This means that 36% of active physicians are set to retire by 2020 while at the same time there are only 105,000 physicians in residency training. Contrary to predictions in the 1980’s and 1990’s, there will not be a surplus of physicians in the 21st Century but rather we will face a physician shortage. “The statistics on current and projected physician numbers further support the ongoing effectiveness that the VIM model will have in improving the healthcare of our country long term,” continued Hamlin.

"It's not a job to anyone; it's a mission."

From Cityview Magazine of Knoxville, Tennessee

Debbie Allen believes that people’s lives can be altered, that someone can reach out to another person in need and positively impact that life forever.  It’s a notion that has inspired her as a volunteer physician at Interfaith Health Clinic, providing affordable health care to individuals without health insurance. After fourteen years regularly volunteering with the clinic, Allen chose to leave her practice and accept the fifth offer to become medical director at Interfaith Health Clinic. She has been a physician since 1981, and with the support of family, children and friends, her first day as director will be September 22, 2008.

“It’s purely about helping people who need to be helped. The other day a nurse practitioner worked overtime to make sure a man received treatment,” Allen said. “She had to go to the UT medical center and beg for help and because of her that man received care at 10 percent of the total cost. That’s what people do here. They go the extra mile. It’s not a job to anyone; it’s a mission.” Allen is only one of many health care practitioners who provide their services at no cost, she said. She treats people who have slipped through the cracks at other social service organizations; some have been sick for years without treatment, and others have undergone catastrophic events, she said. As a volunteer physician, it is rare that she sees the people she treats after they leave the clinic, but she still feels that her work has been appreciated.  “They have thanked me. They have made me feel that I did something, and it has been utterly rewarding,” Allen said.  Her hope is that the work provided at Interfaith Health Clinic creates better life opportunities for those in need.

Life Options Institute Promotes Encore Careers

"To do other things" is the response given by 70% of people asked about why they were about to retire. This article from the Life Options Institute presents the results of several studies on the coming wave of Baby Boomers reaching retirement age.

With the economy in flux and 401-K plans losing value every day, more and more baby boomers realize that they will need to continue working much longer than they ever expected, and they're rethinking how they want to spend those years, according to Joan Strewler-Carter and Stephen Carter, co-founders of the Life Options Institute, an organization dedicated to helping people plan for life after age 50.

"During this economic downturn, boomers should take pause and reflect on what they plan to do with the rest of their lives, and ask whether it's time to reinvent themselves by pursuing their dreams and turning their passion into 'encore careers'," says Mrs. Strewler-Carter.

Survey Finds 37% of Retired North Carolina Physicians Interested in Volunteering

A survey performed by the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, Department of Family Medicine, and School of Social Work, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine, aimed at determining the interest of baby boom generation doctors in health care–related volunteering during retirement. The 910 physicians surveyed were 55 years of age or older and practiced in North Carolina and were trained to provide general medical care to adults.

Results, as published in the report abstract in the Annals included the following:

Of the respondents, 89.8% were male and 87.4% were white; 57.4% worked full-time, 21.7% worked part-time, and 21.0% were retired. Of current retirees, 37.1% expressed interest in volunteering. Areas of greatest interest were medical teaching, working in free medical clinics, and international care. Strong incentives included staying mentally active (67.3%) or involved in medicine (61.2%) and contributing to society (60.5%). Substantial barriers included concerns about malpractice (61.5%) and paperwork or bureaucracy (46.0%). The majority of respondents (66.7%) felt that lack of payment would not influence volunteering.