Mercy Medicine Free Clinic Celebrates 25 Years!
story by John Elwood Owens, MD, JD
Throughout the entire world, but particularly in the Western Hemisphere, the approaching end of the calendar year usually means three things to most people: firstly, a Thanksgiving feast with family and friends to reflect on our many blessings from God. Secondly, we celebrate a most serious time of reflection and giving with our wonderful and beautiful Christmas season, remembering God’s greatest gift to the world, that being His only begotten Son Jesus Christ. And, to wrap things up, we enjoy a New Year’s celebration making resolutions which we seldom keep past the first month or two in the new year. But all in all, it is a wonderful time to thank God for our many blessings, reaffirm our Christian beliefs, and prepare for a new year of hope, love, and prosperity.
As 2018 comes to a close, and 2019 is knocking at the door, we at Mercy Medicine Free Clinic (MMFC) are preparing to celebrate our silver anniversary (25 years) of giving free health care to the needy people of Florence and Williamsburg county. Many patients who have come to MMFC for their health care needs give thanks for its existence in the greater Florence community, learn and appreciate the act of Christian love, and find hope and promise to better health in the ensuing year.
In 1994, a group of devoted Christian doctors, nurses, and health care professionals saw the unselfish need to care for people in the community who had no reliable health care due to lack of status, funds, mobility, indifference, and perhaps discrimination. Dr’s. H. Allen, Jr, N.B. Baroody, J. Thomson, M. Hicks, and J. Owen, along with several excellent nursing staff, formulated the beginnings of the MMFC with the avowed purpose of “free health care (and pharmaceuticals) given under the guidance and devotion to Christian principles.” Over the last (soon-to-be) 25 years, the location, the providers, and the structure have undergone inevitable change, while the basic principles and by-laws have remained the same. Those people who qualify include the poor, the working poor, the uninsured, the homeless, and the law offenders who are soon to be released. While they are at MMFC, they are our patients and get prompt medical attention, diagnosis, additional testing from allied community health providers/hospitals and medical facilities, and life saving medications. MMFC works very closely with McLeod Regional Medical Center and Carolina Hospital System, and is involved with Francis Marion University’s Department of Nursing to help train future health care professionals.
MMFC is guided by a dedicated Board of community professionals who help steer its course to the ever-changing demands of health care in the United States. MMFC has an administrative staff for business purposes and eligibility requirements; an office staff who organizes patient visits and follow ups; a nursing staff who register and work up the patients for their visits, and a health care provider staff who makes diagnoses and prescribes healing medications. The common denominator of all these personnel is that they all help deliver excellent health care with Christian love. They all work for reduced salaries, often without benefits, because they love to help and serve the poor. It is a part of their Christian principles and duties.
As we at MMFC get ready to celebrate our Silver Anniversary in 2019, our staff believes in giving to our patients and our community. 2018 is ending on a proverbial high note of excellent health care and a big dose of Christian love. In the famous movie Mary Poppins there was a song entitled: A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Medicine Go Down. I would like to borrow that phrase from the movie, and say – relative to Mercy Medicine Free Clinic – a generous spoonful of Christian love helps patients at MMFC achieve better health. It has been and will continue to be our unselfish mission at MMFC to dispense excellent health care to our needy patients with a generous serving of Christian love and caring.
