the BEACON Newspaper, Indiana beacon 2-18 web | Page 7

February 2018
THE BEACON
Page 7A
VIMDOS Helps Community with Medical Care
Continued from page 1A
barrier to making someone
healthy,” Amanda Schutte,
Executive Secretary of VIM-
DOS stated. “This means
having healthcare for roughly
6500 uninsured members of
the local community.”
Like every VIM clinic,
VIMDOS will operate com-
pletely on donations, grants,
and volunteers. Ms. Schutte’s
hope is that the “community
will rally around this.” Sup-
porting VIMDOS can be done
by volunteering time in the
clinic or providing financial
support. The budget, Ms.
Schutte said, “will mostly be
spent on diagnostic testing.”
Most patients will come into
the clinic already sick, and a
diagnosis will be needed to ad-
minister the proper treatment.
Volunteering time is an es-
sential aspect of keeping the
clinic open. Local medical
personnel, as well as those
who are not, are strongly en-
couraged to give some of their
time at the clinic. Positions
for non-medical personnel
include receptionists, greeters,
and interpreters. Both types of
volunteers will need to come
together to provide what VIM
calls a “Culture of Caring.”
The goal of VIMDOS is to
treat the patients and to give
them a warm, friendly envi-
ronment at the doctor’s office.
Similarly, medical profes-
sionals can give the care they
want without being bogged
down by the bureaucracy that
sometimes surrounds health-
care.
Ms. Schutte also stated that
VIMDOS is extremely grate-
ful to the community. The
VIMDOS clinic is receiving
a great deal of attention and
support, but that must contin-
ue if it is to open on its target
date in late March.
Thankfully, everything
has fallen into place so far.
On Dec. 6, VIMDOS held
the First Annual Commu-
nity R eception at Ivy Tech in
Lawrenceburg to highlight the
support of community lead-
ers and to reveal the location
of the clinic. Leaders such
as Mayor Kelly Mollaun of
Lawrenceburg, Mayor Brent
Bascom of Rising Sun, and
Dearborn County Hospital
President and CEO Michael
Schwebler attended.
The location of the clinic was
revealed at the reception. It had
to be accessible, affordable,
and available for the patients
and volunteers. A building
owned by Dearborn County
Hospital on Broadway St. in
Marjorie Hamrell, Director of Clinic Development, Mayor Brent
Bascom, Mayor Kelly Mollaun, Dr. Elier Sasha Bianchi, MPH
and Executive Director of VIM, and Michelle Willhelm (photo
by Zakary Foster)
Aurora was chosen. The build-
ing is leased out by the hospital
to doctors. The plan is to have
the clinic open every Wednes-
day from the early afternoon
into the evening. Eventually,
VIMDOS hopes to have the
clinic open twice a week.
In addition to routine health-
care, VIMDOS will have so-
cial workers available to speak
with patients. This aspect of
care is to help patients with
issues that may be preventing
them from seeking or having
access to medical care. In the
future, VIMDOS would like
to expand their services to pre-
ventative care, recovery from
addiction, and dental care.
At this time, however, the
ultimate goal is to get the
clinic open. With guidance
and resources from VIM and
the continued support of the
community, VIMDOS will
open in late March and be
officially recognized as part of
the VIM network.
To learn more about VIM-
DOS and how you can help,
visit vimdosclinic.org.
VIMDOS is an extension
of the national network of
VIM. This organization was
first started by Dr. Jack Mc-
Connell, a retired physician,
who was disturbed by how
many people lacked insurance
and access to basic medical
care. Gathering the numerous
contacts of medical personnel
he had gained over the years,
Dr. McConnell and volunteers
gave care to those under-
served in his community.
Soon, retired physicians in
other states asked Dr. McCon-
nell how they could do the
same for their communities,
and VIM was born. As of this
year, eighty-nine clinics in
twenty-eight states have been
established. Three of these
clinics are located in Indiana.
When VIMDOS opens its
clinic, it will be the ninetieth.
While every clinic that
opens under VIM is guided by
the organization, VIM does
not dictate how each clinic is
run. It trusts the volunteers
to provide excellent medical
care. Not only does VIM give
the under served to communi-
ties the care they need, but it
also gives retired physicians
and other medical profession-
als the fulfillment of helping
others in ways that they were
trained to.
For more information on
VIM, visit volunteersinmedi-
cine.org.
Maverick Winners: First row: Dalton Mooney, Stuart
Lamping, Mrs. Cheryll Obendorff and Mrs. Alyssa
Moorman. Second Row: Mr. Jonathon Maple, Lexi
Brown, Adam Mullen, Owen Sporleder, Levi Stenger,
Kyle Kline and Mrs. Shelly Lunsford.
Oldenburg Hosts Maverick Challenge
The Maverick Challenge, a business planning competition
was hosted at Oldenburg Academy this year. Fourteen
students developed business plans and products for the
competition. Five teams from Oldenburg Academy and
one team from South Ripley participated.
The Maverick Challenge was started in 2008 and is
intended to simulate the real-world process of entrepreneurs
soliciting start-up funds from early-stage investors, successful
entrepreneurs and community leaders. Students had the
opportunity to work with business and community mentors.
The winners included 2 Fresh 2 Go, a food truck that
would utilize locally grown foods to produce foods
created by Stuart Lamping and Dalton Mooney. Kitten’s
Jerky Company, a business planned by Kyle Kline and
Levi Stenger. The first place winner was Three Scoops,
a high-end dessert bar with catering service. This was
presented by Lexi Brown, Adam Mullen, and Owen
Sporleder. “A lot of food companies this year, which was
very interesting – all of the teams did a wonderful job
planning their business and going through the process,”
Oldenburg Academy Assistant Principal Jonathon Maple
commented. The top three teams will move on to the
Spring Maverick Challenge Regional Competition, where
nine counties will compete against each other.
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