Medical care is urgently in the news these days, often with controversy, usually with millions, billions, even trillions of dollars involved. But there’s a good “local” medical story that is too little known. It deserves a great deal of attention.
It really began in 2002, when Nancy and Richard Franks heard about something that a former Chattanoogan, Dr. Jack McConnell, brother of longtime Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Sam McConnell, had done at Hilton Head, S.C.
Mr. and Mrs. Franks were so interested that they visited Dr. Jack McConnell at Hilton Head. They were impressed with what Dr. McConnell had done in organizing doctor volunteers and others to provide a free clinic for people who could not afford needed medical care.
Nancy Franks told her church, Ridgedale Baptist. Its members and others joined in the idea of organizing Volunteers in Medicine in Chattanooga, to do something here similar to what Dr. McConnell had done in Hilton Head.
Lots of Chattanooga doctors and some other people and churches enthusiastically joined in. Mrs. Franks, Dr. Robert Myers (and too many other volunteers to name) went into action, and have continued in action over the years. The “short story” is that, with very little fanfare, volunteers headed by Mrs. Franks established the Volunteers in Medicine organization in Chattanooga to provide local people of limited means with their medical needs.
The organization explained: “The vision of Volunteers in Medicine, Chattanooga, Inc., is to have eyes to see, with Christian love, those to whom we have been blind, arms to embrace those who have been excluded, hands to touch those needing compassion, wisdom and skill to alleviate suffering, with hearts bonded together.”
Well, since 2003, at least 600 doctors, nurses, other volunteers and many generous donors have done a lot. They have given the equivalent of more than $25 million in medical care to many thousands of our people!
Just think how much good has been done in Chattanooga because Mrs. Franks followed up on something she had heard that Dr. McConnell had done in Hilton Head!
Who can estimate how “a good idea” can grow for the benefit of many when well-meaning people unselfishly put their energy to it?