Mike Strickland had hoped to be the very first pharmacist to work a volunteer shift at the new Free Clinic of Southwest Washington when it opened in 1990.
He ended up getting bumped out of that spot, but he proudly claims the title of the second pharmacist to ever volunteer for the clinic. And Strickland has volunteered at the Vancouver clinic at least two times per month for the 25 years since — making him one of the clinic’s longest-serving volunteers.
Some months, Strickland would spend a dozen days at the clinic, filling in for others who missed their shifts. Some days, he would finish a long day of work at his pharmacy job just to spend another couple of hours donating his time to fill prescriptions for the uninsured in the community.
“When the first patient here says, ‘Thank you and God bless you,’ it changes everything,” Strickland said during a recent volunteer shift at the Free Clinic. “It makes me realize why I got into medicine.”
Free Clinic of Southwest Washington
By the numbers
508: Current active volunteers.
20,529: Volunteer hours in 2015.
4,985: Medical patient visits in 2015.
1,400: Dental patient visits in 2015.
5,194: Prescriptions filled in 2015.
Source: Free Clinic of Southwest Washington
In the fall, Strickland received the Marcia Howery Award, which commemorates a life of service to the medically underserved in Washington. Howery served as the Free Clinic’s director from 1990 — when the clinic was established — until her death in 2008.
The award, Strickland said, is a “big honor. She was a special person.”
Not long after Strickland began volunteering at the clinic, Howery recruited a young physician to join the clinic’s growing list of volunteers. Dr. Susan Davis started working in Vancouver in 1990 after completing her residency at Oregon Health and Science University. Howery was one of Davis’ early patients.
After learning more from Howery, Davis agreed to begin volunteering at the Free Clinic. She started out by volunteering once every four months. But, before long, Davis was spending more and more time at the Free Clinic.
In 1996, Davis cut back on her work schedule and agreed to spend more time volunteering. Then, in 1999, Howery convinced Davis to join the clinic’s board of directors. In 2002, Davis took over as the clinic’s medical director — a role she continues to fill today.
In 2012, Davis left her job at a local health clinic and devoted her time to the free clinic, where she volunteers three days a week. She also volunteers one day a week at the New Heights Clinic in Vancouver.
“You just see the need,” Davis said. “There’s just a huge need.”
Building programs
In the early years, the Free Clinic operated out of the county health department. The providers and pharmacists operated off of hospital carts, moving their supplies and patients from one unoccupied office to another.
“It was a lot of jockeying around,” Strickland said.
Those days, the clinic offered limited medical services just one night a week. Most of the patients were young adults and children, and the providers treated issues such as earaches, sore throats and rashes. The pharmacy had only about 20 medications — most often filling prescriptions for penicillin and amoxicillin.
The clinic later moved into what was then the Vancouver Memorial Hospital on Main Street before moving into a permanent home at the Jim Parsley Center in 2001.
The dedicated space allowed the clinic to expand its offerings.
Today, there are five medical clinics per week, including morning and evening hours. In addition, the clinic has a laboratory and offers vision, immunization and dental services, as well as referrals to specialty services. The pharmacy offers considerably more drugs and most often fills prescriptions for medications to treat high blood pressure and diabetes.
The clinic saw the most growth in 2008, when the economy crashed, Davis said. People would line up outside of the clinic, hours before it opened, hoping to receive care. Some days, the clinic had to turn people away.
That’s also when the clinic began seeing a new population: older adults who had lost their health insurance.
Those patients came with a new set of needs. Rather than minor medical issues, the patients had chronic diseases that needed management, Davis said.
So the clinic and its providers adjusted accordingly. The clinic not only began managing chronic conditions, it also began offering referrals to speciality services. That was also the year Howery died, leaving the clinic to find a new director. (Barbe West became executive director the next year.)
“To me, that was a pivotal year,” Davis said.
In 2014, with the implementation of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, the Free Clinic experienced another shift, Davis said.
The clinic sees fewer patients now. Most are people who are new to Vancouver and don’t know how to find medical care or can’t get in for an appointment, Davis said.
The clinic rarely has to turn people away, but the need for its services certainly hasn’t disappeared, she said.
“Even with the ACA there are people who fall through the cracks,” Davis said. “It doesn’t cover everyone.”
And as long as there is a need, Strickland and Davis plan to do their part to serve those in need.
“I’ve always enjoyed volunteering. It just kinda gets in your blood,” Strickland said. “If you could make a living out of working for nothing, I’m there.”
