I went to collect the prayer requests that had been deposited in the box that sits in the waiting room of the Medical Care Mission. As I pulled out the white slips of paper and wondered how I might best pray for our patients who are struggling with physical pain and so much more, I was startled by what I saw:

A dollar bill.

One of our patients had made a donation to the Mission. It was a donation, and it is also a prayer request. It is my prayer request. I give thanks for the generosity of our donors, especially those who sacrifice to give one dollar, and I pray that God will continue to provide the funding that our patients need through our faithful friends.

So I’m asking you who are reading this right now to consider sending $1 to the Medical Care Mission. Could you do that? Could you place a dollar bill into a folded piece of paper, tuck it into an envelope and send to the Medical Care Mission (1857 Pine Street / Suite 100 / Abilene, Texas)?

And could you ask your friends to do the same? Send them this link in an e-mail or Facebook message or wall post. Text them. Call them. Tweet the message. Tell everyone you know that $1 can offer health care to someone who desperately needs it.

If everyone in Abilene sent $1, we’d be able to put an extra $100,000.00-plus toward patient care this year. Imagine what we can do when we use our electronic resources to spread the word around the world.

Everyone needs health care. Everyone. Thank you for doing what you can to make that happen. I’ll keep you posted on the results.

Blessings,

Rev. Amy Wilson

Director of Spiritual Wellness

Charlotte and Julia meet with Dr. Mary Klein during a Common Ground planning session.

Julia learned she had Type II Diabetes 20 years ago, when she was working in Stamford.

After Julia was diagnosed, a co-worker at the sewing factory told her about the Medical Care Mission because she knew Julia’s family did not have insurance.

That’s when Julia was introduced to the Mission’s staff, and she has been a patient ever since.

Today, Julia’s family lives in Anson, so she drives 23 miles one way every three months to check in with Mary Klein, Pharm. D.

In September, Julia was introduced to Charlotte, another diabetic, in the early stages of a new program at the Mission, Common Ground: Diabetes and the Whole Person.

With Julia and Charlotte’s help, the medical staff and the director of spiritual wellness have designed the program to offer support and encourage the building of relationships among diabetics, family members and medical professionals in the Abilene area. These free monthly sessions will provide resources regarding nutrition, exercise, spirituality and communication.

The first meeting will take place on February 9, 2010, at the Medical Care Mission: 1857 Pine Street, Suite 100. In this first session, Dr. Klein will provide nutrition information, including meal-planning tips. One-on-one consultations will be available.

Common Ground is open to the public. Resources will be provided in English and Spanish, and a translator will be available at each session. The program is designed to incorporate the community, and suggestions are welcome. If you would like to attend, or if you have some ideas about programming, please contact Rev. Amy Wilson at (325) 676-3104, Ext. 113 at or amy@medicalcaremission.org.

Oz, host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” will air footage from the free clinic at 11 a.m. on October 15 on KTXS-TV Channel 12.

This article originally was posted by Janet Van Vleet, Special to the Reporter-News, on  October 14, 2009 at 10 p.m. at www.reporternews.com.

As politicians in Washington, D.C., debate universal health care ad nauseam, more than 700 volunteers gathered in Houston recently to actually do something for patients who can’t afford insurance.

More than a dozen doctors, nurses and other volunteers from Abilene traveled to Houston to take part in possibly the largest single-day free health clinics ever held. The clinic, sponsored by “The Dr. Oz Show,” dispensed medical care to more than 1,750 people on Sept. 26 at the Reliant Center.

Camera crews for the syndicated medical-themed talk show filmed the clinic activity throughout the day. Additional footage was shot in Dr. Mehmet Oz’s New York studio last week and that episode can be seen at 11 a.m. today on KTXS-TV Channel 12.

J. Scott Golding, executive director for the Presbyterian Medical Care Mission in Abilene, got involved with the event through his involvement on the boards of the National Association of Free Clinics and the Lone Star Association of Charitable Clinics. The free and charitable clinics across the country receive little to no funding from the state and federal government, he said.

“One of the misconceptions about these clinics is that we see poor people,” Golding said. “But 85 percent of the patients are working people.”

Oz was looking for a large city where he could host a free clinic to reach 1,000 people. The show contacted the National Association of Free Clinics to help coordinate.

Houston has the highest population of unemployed people in the nation, Golding said, so it is the logical choice. As the only NAFC board member from Texas, Golding became the local point man and contacted his peers in Houston. The local free and charitable clinics there spread the word to their patients and volunteers, and six weeks later, it all came together, Golding said.

Curtained cubicles spread across the 160,000-square-foot space, along with labs, MRIs, X-ray machines and other tools of the medical trade. The volunteers arrived before dawn, including the Abilene group, which arrived at 5 a.m.

The doors opened at 8 a.m., and for nearly 12 hours doctors treated hundreds of patients. Three physicians, Drs. Darrold Stoebner and George Woodward, who work at the PMCM, and Dr. Fred White, who holds a special clinic there once a month, represented Abilene at the clinic.

“It’s the same sort of thing we do here at our clinic,” Stoebner said. “We give care to people who have no insurance and no money.”

All three said the key factor that made the clinic a success was the fact that the patients were given information about where to receive follow-up care at various clinics near them.

“If there was no follow-up, we really wouldn’t have accomplished much,” White said. “We don’t want to make gestures; we want to make a difference.”

The patients’ ailments ranged from garden-variety colds and coughs to thyroid tumors and prostate cancer. The clinic received lots of attention from the local and national media, including “Countdown with Keith Olberman.” Olberman appealed to his viewers and raised $575,000 for free clinics. Woodward saw the clinic as a way to bring attention to free clinics.

“I’m passionate about what we do here and to be able to take that to the level we did in Houston was fabulous,” Woodward said. “It’s just people helping people.”