Florida Catholic | Pensacola clinic for the poor to meet demands

Pensacola clinic for the poor to meet demands

St. Joseph Health Clinic in downtown Pensacola will soon expand its hours to meet the increased demand for patient services.

AMY FERRARA SMITH | FLORIDA CATHOLIC STAFF

Published: 08.15.08

Donna Moore Horky, center, and Micky Hite, right, volunteer social workers at St. Joseph Parish, talk with James Lindsey Jr. while he waits for a medical check–up.
AMY FERRARA SMITH | FC

PENSACOLA | Dr. David Conkle scanned the room as he answered a nurse’s question. He looked around the small space a second time, pulled up a seat and then slowly sat down. He was just looking for a chair.

“It’s been a busy day,” he said with a sigh of exhaustion.

St. Joseph Parish: 850-436-6461

St. Joseph Health Clinic: 850-434-8161

While the U. S. economy has slowed down significantly in the past year, free clinics such as the St. Joseph Health Clinic in downtown Pensacola have seen an increase in the need for services, and many have pegged the economy as a reason why.

“We saw about 700 more people this calendar year than last,” said Conkle, a retired heart surgeon who, with the blessing of pastor Father Patrick Foley, started the clinic in 2002 to care for those who can’t afford medical treatment.

Within the year, the clinic will open for three half-days a week rather than just for the current two. This third day will be reserved for patients with chronic diseases.

The increased number of patients over the past year has made Emily Walsh, a volunteer retired nurse, question if the economy is the culprit.

“I’ve been wondering about that myself,” she said, “But I don’t think we’re really seeing it yet. ... I have noticed, however, that we are serving almost 40 people now most days. Six months ago, it was about 30 a day.”

The clientele has also changed. According to Conkle, when the clinic first opened in 2002, a large number of homeless people came for medical aid. The trend then shifted to the working poor. Most recently, there has been a greater number of homeless walking through the door.

The increased amount of patients has created a shortage of volunteer nurses to care for patients who have everything from colds to diabetes.

“It’s an amazing thing. The volunteers really enjoy what they’re doing, and it’s unusual to find a patient who will tell you that they don’t have a good experience here. I’m sure that’s because the volunteers enjoy what they’re doing,” said Dr. Conkle. He then pointed to a nurse who passed through the room. Mary Bond, he noted, has volunteered 602 hours from last July to this July.

Nicholas Yelverton also gives his time and energy to help the patients at the clinic. “My volunteer experiences at St. Joseph’s Medical Clinic engrained in me a deeper understanding into the multicultural facets of Escambia County’s underprivileged population, which is mostly comprised of minorities from a lower socioeconomic status, who have limited access to such basic needs as education, health care and employment,” he said.

While the clinic serves the sick in the small, historic house behind the church, the parish is also hosting the “Caring and Sharing” pantry and clothes drive two days a week.

“We can’t keep food in there,” said Gloria Green, a parishioner who volunteers her time to run Caring and Sharing out of another building on the parish grounds. “One day we saw 93 people. When we first started, we saw 8 to 10 people a day.”

St. Joseph Parish has hosted Caring and Sharing for about four years, ever since it was decided to give the needy leftover cans of food from the parish’s annual Thanksgiving Day free dinner. Since then, parishioners have also collected clothes to distribute. With such an increase in the number of people seeking canned food and clothing, the program is in desperate need of donations.

“I think it’s the economy and people not having jobs,” continued Green. “Most of the people who come are ‘street people.’”

At noon on Fridays, many of these people come back to the parish for a bowl of homemade soup. Donna Moore Horky started the soup kitchen with Micky Hite in the fall of 2007 and with the support of Father Foley.

“I’d say we’re seeing about 60 people (each Friday),” said Horky, who is a parishioner at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. Horky said that the numbers have gradually climbed since the kitchen opened, but she attributes it to the fact that more people know the service exists.

“This church is such a wonderful church,” continued Conkle. “It’s unusual to find somebody who is not volunteering or doing something.”

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