3 days Ago
In honor of Doctors’ Day, we celebrate the physicians who generously give their time to care for their neighbors. Their dedication embodies the enduring values of medicine — compassion, service and healing. In 2003, a group of healthcare leaders attended a conference where they heard an inspiring story of a free medical clinic.
The clinic was started on Hilton Head Island South Carolina by a group of retired physicians with a heart to take care of those who were taking care of them. The physicians recognized that many of those working in the hotels, restaurants, and golf courses of the resort island were working in jobs where their employer did not offer health insurance. Driven by a sense of purpose, they started a free medical clinic where the physicians volunteered to provide free care to the uninsured population of the community.
New Braunfels Christian Ministries Volunteers in Medicine (VIM) opened in 2008 following that same model. The clinic on West San Antonio Street is staffed by a small staff and a team of 23 volunteer physicians, including primary care and family physicians, as well as specialists in cardiology, neurology, dermatology, gastroenterology, pulmonology, general surgery and others. These physicians volunteer their time to serve, without compensation or reimbursement.
There is no billing involved, no submitting claims with insurance, but instead simply a physician providing compassionate, expert medical care toward their patient. The physicians at VIM serve out of a simple yet profound desire to help others. They are healers in the truest sense, ministering to the sick and hurting with skill and compassion.
Despite the demands of their professions — whether coming off a weekend hospital call, responding to emergencies in the ER, or completing a full day’s clinic schedule — they still find time to care for VIM patients. These physicians provide more than just medical treatment. They offer dignity and respect, recognizing the unique struggles each patient faces.
They share knowledge built through years of study and experience. They listen, they empathize, they heal — not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well. So on this National Doctors’ Day, we say thank you to all those physicians who give back to our community.
Thank you for exemplifying what it truly means to be a physician. Thank you for serving the needs of others. In a time when medical care is so often full of complications and frustrations, the heart of a physician remains true to many and for that we say “Thank you.
” Thank you for investing your time, your compassion and your skill. Thank you for serving those most in need. Thank you for your grace and generosity.
You are truly appreciated..
