500 Volunteers Sought for Free Clinic in Spokane

By Kathy Marson, communication administrative assistant, Upper Columbia Conference

Organizers are seeking volunteers and donors for a free clinic in the U.S. state of Washington in August, just four months after a similar event provided more than $20 million in free care to more than 6,000 people in San Antonio, Texas.

The Your Best Pathway to Health clinic will be held on Aug. 3 and 4 at the Spokane Interstate Fairgrounds in the city of Spokane.

More than 500 volunteers are needed, including those with skills in dental, eye care, massage, chiropractic, hydrotherapy, chaplaincy, child-care, and organizing, said Cindy Williams, health ministries coordinator for the Upper Columbia Conference, who is helping organize the event.

Barbers and beauticians are also needed, as are volunteers for security, hospitality, and meal preparation.

Volunteers can sign up at the website pathwaytohealthvolunteer.org.

About $30,000 of the clinic’s cost of $100,000 has been raised, with the funds being earmarked for medical and dental supplies, meals, office supplies and other setup costs, Williams said. “But the rest will need to be raised before August,” she said.

It remains unclear how many people will be treated, but the number is expected to be lower than in San Antonio’s Alamodome stadium, where 1,700 volunteers worked for three days.

Williams volunteered in the eye care section of the San Antonio clinic.

“I have never been a part of something this jaw-dropping,” she said.

At the Alamodome, every patient received care and was then offered other services such as a haircut, hydrotherapy, and massage. Then they went through chaplaincy services and lifestyle counseling. Each patient chose a church location to pick up their lab results or their eyeglasses.

Similar follow-up for the Spokane clinic will be offered at local churches.

The free clinics are the brainchild of Lela Lewis, a medical doctor and the president of Your Best Pathway to Health, a service of Adventist Laymen’s Services and Industries. The first two free clinics treated about 3,000 people over three days in San Francisco and Oakland, California, in April 2014. Your Best Pathway to Health has received formal requests hold the clinic in six more cities after Spokane.

A version of this article appeared in the North Pacific Gleaner.