Kansas City Kansas Community College

Three members of the Kansas City Kansas Community College nursing faculty and eight nursing students were among nearly 2,000 medical and non-medical volunteers taking part in Kansas City’s free C.A.R.E. Health Clinic held at the Bartle Hall Convention Center Dec. 9-10.

The fourth such clinic held in recent months in cities across the U.S. to highlight the problems of the uninsured, nearly 2,300 patients were seen during the two-day clinic held despite freezing and snowy conditions.

“Most of the patients had not seen a health care provider in years,” said Frankie Davis, Assistant Director of Nursing Retention Specialist who was assigned to the lab for Urine Analysis. “My philosophy is that all Americans should have accessible quality health care. There is a time to give and a time to receive for all of us and this was the receiving time for Kansas Citians without health care.”

Instructor Sandy Lane found “countless moments” that touched her heart. “Each morning as the first patients ascended the escalators at Bartle Hall, the volunteers would applaud their arrival as a special welcome,” said Lane, whose role was that of a triage nurse.

“I listened to a 64-year-old woman, herself a cancer survivor, whose daughter had passed away in July, and who had used up her savings to gain custody of her daughter’s 2-year-old child. I listened to a young man newly released from prison who was trying to move forward with his life and an older, emaciated homeless man who shared a tent with a buddy and tried to stay warm from the heat of an open fire. And there were people who had lost their jobs and insurance and were without resources for health care and medications.”

The KCKCC students were assigned to taking vital signs, weight and height; giving flu shots; assisting the RN’s; and helping with the patient flow by running errands. “It was a positive experience for the students because they were able to provide care in a ‘clinic’ environment, which is unusual for first semester students,” said instructor Marquetta Sims-Berry. “Also, other licensed professionals worked very well with our students and allowed them the opportunity to learn, ask questions and get experience where they desired.”

The National Association of Free Clinics and its partners sponsored the C.A.R.E Clinic which offered free basic medical and dental care, behavioral health screening and crisis intervention and health education to the uninsured and homeless of the city.

As patients arrived, they were checked in by non-medical volunteers and then seen by triage nurses, who took vital signs, obtained a brief health history, sent the patients for basic lab work and referred them to be seen by physicians, dentists and other types of health care providers. Upon checking out, patients also received health care education and referral information for community agencies that could assist them further with their care needs.

“The clinic was amazing, wonderful, extraordinarily well-organized, and yes, joyful,” concluded Lane. “Patients were grateful for a caring presence and needed health care services; volunteers were grateful for an opportunity to give of their time and talents; and everyone was calm, cooperative, good-humored and grateful.

“I would do it again in a heartbeat. We tend to think of medical missions being held in destitute third world countries over seas. The C.A.R.E. Clinic was surely a medical mission held in a major, metropolitan American city.”