Georgia Magazine - March 2020 - 28

BARBARA HAMILTON STEWART
BARBARA HAMILTON STEWART

Dr. Virgle W. McEver III has been the medical director at
the Houston County Volunteer Medical Clinic in Warner
Robins since 2014.

Jackie Speaks works the front desk and is the general
administrator at the Houston County Volunteer Medical
Clinic. The clinic serves about 200 patients per year.

For more information

*	 Healing Hands Clinic of Gordon County, 440 Red Bud Road,

Calhoun. (706) 629-3054. facebook.com/healinghandsclinic
gordoncounty.
*	 Houston County Volunteer Medical Clinic, 125 Russell Parkway,
Warner Robins. (478) 923-9730. hcvmc.org.

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Georgia Magazine

clinics, they are a nimble group and adapt to meet the needs of
their specific communities.
"We are unique in that we offer specialty clinics during
the month," says Dr. Virgle W. McEver III, medical director at
the Houston County Volunteer Medical Clinic (HCVMC) in
Warner Robins. "We offer three each month: a cardiology clinic,
a diabetes clinic and a gynecological clinic. On those days,
specialists evaluate our patients.
"I can't over emphasize how lifechanging these clinics can
be. It's common for a person to wait weeks, even months, to get
in to see a cardiologist or other specialist."
The HCVMC opened in January 2005 with funding from
Houston Healthcare, Houston Medical Center Auxiliary and
Healthcare of Central Georgia as well as individuals and
businesses. Since then, the clinic has grown to include one
full-time employee, three part-time employees and more than
70 volunteers, and has 326 active patients who fall under the
category of the uninsured working poor.
The clinic relies on the United Way for almost half of its
funding. Proceeds from an annual charitable golf tournament
in May provide another 35 percent of needed funds. Individual
donations make up the rest.
"We hand out over $5,000 in medications each month,"
McEver says. "We don't hand out prescriptions because our
patients would not be able to afford to have them filled. We start
our patients on a Pharmaceutical Patient Assistance Program,
and in the meantime we give them starter doses to begin the
healing process."
The HCVMC regularly surveys patients and makes
adjustments based on the feedback.
"From the survey results, we know that we are keeping
people out of the emergency room each and every day, and
that's big," he says. "We know that a trip to the ER has a price tag
of at least $2,000."
McEver has many stories about patients who have been
treated at the clinic, such as a man in kidney failure, a woman
with a mass in her breast and several older patients who had
never had colonoscopies.
"I see how we are helping," he says. "Our clinic truly makes
a difference to our patients and to our community."
Amber Lanier Nagle is a freelance writer living in
Adairsville.

Below are a few more volunteer medical clinics around the state.
To find a clinic near you or find resources for starting a volunteer
medical clinic in your community, visit the Georgia Charitable Care
Network at charitablecarenetwork.com or call (678) 389-3333.
*	 DEO Clinic, 218 N. Fredrick St., Dalton. (706) 581-2009.
deoclinic.org.
*	 Good Samaritan Health & Wellness Center, 175 Samaritan Drive,
Jasper. (706) 253-4673. goodsamhwc.org.
*	 Partnership Health Center, 520 Griffin Ave., Valdosta.
(229) 245-0020. phcvaldosta.org.

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http://www.charitablecarenetwork.com http://www.deoclinic.org http://www.facebook.com/healinghandsclinicgordoncounty http://www.goodsamhwc.org http://www.facebook.com/healinghandsclinicgordoncounty http://www.phcvaldosta.org http://www.hcvmc.org

Georgia Magazine - March 2020

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