With all the verbal sparring going on these days about healthcare and healthcare costs and who might benefit from changes to the current system, local healthcare providers are ready to make their own statement.
Beginning this Sunday, Nov. 1, primary care providers in the south county will be offering their services at no monetary cost to residents who don’t have health insurance.
Yes, for three hours every other weekend, healthcare services will be offered at no monetary cost to the patient at a rotating schedule of locations throughout the south county.
There has to be a catch, you say?
Not exactly a catch, only a request to “pay it forward.”
Patients who receive free healthcare services will simply be asked to volunteer in their community in whatever ways they see fit and on their own schedule.
Spearheaded by Dr. Jim Parker of Mount Shasta and Scott Holland of the Lake Shastina area, the overriding goal of the new Volunteers For Health Care Today program is to spread good will.
As Dr. Parker sees it, “There is no red tape involved as we treat your bronchitis and you rake the leaves of your neighbor. To me that is exciting. We simply do no more than serve each other.”
The first three VHC Today dates are scheduled to be held at Dr. Parker’s office on Pine St. in Mount Shasta beginning this Sunday from noon to 3 p.m.
Subsequent VHC Today practice hours and locations will be published in the newspaper.
For the uninsured
If you have no health insurance and you come to see a VHC Today physician, you will pay no money.
If you have health insurance and you come to see a VHC Today physician, it will be billed through your insurance as normal.
The main effort of VHC Today is to treat patients who do not have health insurance.
Those who do receive free services will be requested to pay it forward and will be given information about south county organizations that can benefit from volunteer help, including libraries, community resource centers, and parks and recreation districts (see list below).
When presented with the VHC Today concept, Parker said healthcare providers in the area, including doctors, physician assistants, family nurse practitioners and nurses, were “near-unanimous” in their support and willingness to participate.
VHC Today is not currently a non-profit or for-profit organization or a legal entity of any kind.
Each provider, when her or his turn comes to hold VHC Today office hours, will do so as a branded extension of their regular practice using their own staff members.
Services provided through VHC Today will be limited to some extent and will not include treatment of chronic conditions or non-emergency pain relief.
If serious conditions are suspected, patients without health insurance will be referred to local sources who can assist them in identifying government programs or to sliding scale clinics.
Mercy’s statement
Mercy Medical Center Mt. Shasta was approached and asked how they might be willing to contribute to VHC Today.
Mercy praised VHC Today as a “worthwhile cause,” but stated in a press release that its role in the program “is not yet clearly defined. We can commit to supporting their patients as we support all patients in our service area. Mercy is committed to furthering the healing ministry of Jesus and dedicates our resources to delivering compassionate, high-quality, affordable health services to all in need. To that end, Mercy has a well defined and generous medical charity program available for those who need assistance accessing necessary health services.
“At Mercy we believe that no one should delay seeking medical care because they lack insurance or have high medical costs.
“We are pleased at the opportunity to work in collaboration with VHC Today and appreciate the services they will bring (to the Mt. Shasta area).”
‘Heartwarming story’
Already the VHC Today pay it forward plan has generated one “Heartwarming Story,” as recounted by Scott Holland on the website www.vhctoday.org.
Holland, who came to the Mt. Shasta area a couple years ago after spending several months in bed with Lyme Disease in Florida, says Dr. Parker helped restore much of his health.
A business administration and finance major and inventor of an interactive touchscreen kiosk designed to improve golfers’ skills, Holland said he was impressed with Dr. Parker’s interest in his health and willingness to work with him on payments.
When he heard about Parker’s idea of providing medical services at no monetary charge for those who have no health insurance, Holland offered to help.
His research led to the VHC Today concept of a “branded extension” of the doctor’s practice, which allows participating providers to volunteer their medical services without the administrative costs that would be involved in setting up a legal entity.
In exchange for Dr. Parker’s generosity, Holland says he has paid it forward by volunteering his effort for VHC Today for the past 10 months.
“His expertise has been invaluable,” Parker said of Holland.
Making a difference
The driving force behind Mount Shasta’s annual Fourth of July Walk/Run since it began in 1980, Parker said he initially came up with the idea of offering free healthcare when he was considering ways he could “make a difference.”
He said his brother, a kidney specialist, initially suggested connecting the free healthcare with the pay it forward idea.
After hearing about the plan, Kerry Taylor, director of the Pay It Forward Foundation, sent bracelets and bumper stickers and decided to feature VHC Today on their website: www.payitforwardfoundation.org.
According to the website, “Pay It Forward” is a book written by Catherine Ryan Hyde, and it’s “an action plan within a work of fiction... Since the book was released in January of 2000, a real-life social movement has emerged, not just in the U.S. but worldwide. What began as a work of fiction has already become much more.”
The Pay It Forward Foundation was established in September 2000 by the author and others "to educate and inspire students to realize that they can change the world, and provide them with opportunities to do so."
Dr. Parker noted that “Primary care providers see daily the angst in the faces of their patients with the cost of providing care for their family or just themselves.” He said most patients don’t want a hand-out or something for nothing.
Through VHC Today, according to Parker, “Providers and staff are freely giving their skills to patients in need. Our hopes are that our communities will receive back their skills and time (not money), in creative and various ways. This concept resonates with everyone I talk to. Imagine the momentums in our towns where our skills are interchangeable, lives are saved and volunteers are contributing where their services are greatly needed.”
For more information call Dr. Parker at 530-859-0444.
Following is a suggested list of local places that could benefit from pay-it-forward volunteering. However, VHC Today stresses that all acts of kindness are appropriate:
Dunsmuir
• The Kids’ Factory, Family Resource Center, 235-4005.
• Dunsmuir Recreation and Parks District, 926-2494.
• Botanical Gardens.
• Dunsmuir Library, 235-2035.
McCloud
• Community Resource Center, 964-3250.
• McCloud Library, 964-2169.
• McCloud Recreation Council, 926-2494.
• McCloud Library, 964-2169.
• Chamber of Commerce, 964-2169.
Mount Shasta
• Community Resource Center, 926-1400.
• Siskiyou Humane Society, 926-4052.
• Mount Shasta Recreation and Parks District, 926-2494.
• Bioregional Ecology Center, 926-3397.
Weed/Lake Shastina
• Community Resource Center, 938-2426.
• Weed Recreation and Parks District, 926-2494.
• Revitalization Coalition, 938-3229.
• Chamber of Commerce, 938-4624.
• Siskiyou Habitat for Humanity, 938-1849.
• Friends of the Library, 938-5331.
Mount Shasta, Calif. —
