30 Years and Growing

“What have you done for someone today?”

It all started with this simple question that the father of Volunteers in Medicine Clinic’s founder, Dr. Jack McConnell, would ask his children each evening around the dinner table. This question inspired Dr. Jack and other pioneers to begin Volunteers in Medicine Clinic almost 30 years ago. Primarily for immunizations, VIM Clinic served about 1,000 patient visits in that first year. The Clinic has now grown to average 28,000 patient visits a year across 23 medical specialties, dental care, mental health, and five disease management clinics through the tireless efforts of 650 plus volunteers.

For nearly 30 remarkable years, VIM Clinic has changed hundreds of thousands of lives by providing access to free comprehensive, compassionate and high-quality healthcare to low-income individuals and their families. These are our neighbors who serve as housekeepers, landscape and construction workers, hotel staff, golf course attendants, grocery store clerks, and food and beverage employees who work for low wages with little or no benefits. They keep our island the pristine and beautiful place we love to call home. Without VIM Clinic, they have no other place to turn for their healthcare needs and would otherwise have no choice but to go without.

VIM Clinic not only serves as an award-winning healthcare clinic and a local solution to a national healthcare problem but also serves as the flagship model for 100+ free and charitable clinics across the nation. Whether it be our newly implemented Food Sustainability initiative with an emphasis on health and wellness, our introduction of FreeStyle Libre continuous glucose monitoring systems for our diabetic patients, our life-changing Raymond L. Cox Gift of Hope Surgery Program, or just our abounding spirit of service and giving, VIM Clinic is a model that continues to inspire and be replicated all over the country. VIM Clinic has always been supported entirely through philanthropy, our generous family of individual donors, foundations, corporations, faith-based organizations and civic groups. YOUR support is essential. We only exist because YOU believe in our work and our mission, continuing to recognize the incredible impact we have on the lives of our neighbors in need. YOUR investment helps keep our entire community able to work, take care of loved ones and stay healthy and strong while leading productive lives. The quality of care that VIM Clinic provides is extraordinary, and we see tremendous results every day in the vastly improved health outcomes of our patients. The treatment is free, the care is priceless.

We need YOU to partner in our mission, to help us respond to the need and change lives for the better. Help us give the gift of good health for many more decades to come. With your support, VIM Clinic will continue to grow and thrive while touching thousands upon thousands of lives and stay a vital and vibrant asset to our community.

Your support today ensures the health of our neighbors for the future. Thank you for helping us respond to healthcare disparities in our community.

Just this Year…VIM Clinic

• Provided for the health and wellness needs of our medically underserved neighbors across an average of 28,000 patient visits annually – all without government funding.
• Offered more than $13 million in retail medical services from a $3 million budget.
• Provided 12,726 disease screening lab tests.
• Dispensed 40,200 prescriptions in our Pharmacy that have a retail medical value of $2,555,000.
• Provided surgeries and procedures to 289 patients that have a value of $1,019,000…at a cost to VIM Clinic of $116,570.
• Provided cleanings, fluoride varnish, sealants and home health care instructions for more than 1,000 pediatric patients and 5,500 adult and pediatric dental patients.
• Drastically improved the smiles and hence the lives of 63 patients in VIM Clinic’s Denture Program at a cost to VIM Clinic of $11,724 – yet with a total value of $88,924.
• Provided 732 screening and diagnostic mammograms within our Women’s Health Program.
• Continued to shift the focus and permeate a message of wellness and prevention clinic wide. VIM Clinic volunteers and staff actively work with our patients, particularly those with chronic disease risk factors, to guide them toward healthier lifestyles. Cost of a head of lettuce: $3; Cost of a bag of healthy food for a family of four: $35; Cost of personal, one-on-one wellness visits and nutritional counseling for our patients: Priceless