VHC Inspired by Katrina Efforts

Feb 24, 2008

Mike Rolfsen, an internist at Baton Rouge Clinic, saw volunteer doctors, nurses, mental health professionals and social workers in action after Hurricane Katrina.

He'd seen private doctors and dentists attend patients who had jobs but couldn't afford health insurance. The doctors and dentists were part of what was called a "virtual clinic" because they saw a few patients in their own clinics or offices over a year's time.

For various reasons, the clinics ended. "But I saw how it could work if done differently," said Rolfsen who served on the board of such a clinic for 10 years.

Rolfsen's idea, the Volunteer Health Corps of Baton Rouge, has received outright grants or staggered grants totaling $250,000 since last June including gifts from Baton Rouge Area Foundation and the Huey Wilson Foundation, said Michele Broome, VHC's paid executive director.

Before Hurricane Katrina, almost 25 percent of the households in Baton Rouge had no health insurance, Rolfsen said.

After the hurricane, the influx of storm evacuees in Baton Rouge increased the waiting time at LSU/Earl K. Long Medical Center for rechecks on high blood pressure to four months and as long as a year for colonoscopies, he said.

"We're a bridge between the emergency room and primary care doctors," Rolfsen said. "A patient's blood sugar is 400. We see them until their condition improves or they can get into the Earl K. Long system."

"We're looking for donations (cash and in-kind) and volunteers," Broome said. "We need physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, mental health professionals, social workers and anyone who can do clerical work."

For more information, call Broome at (225) 266-5656. VHC will stage a fundraiser this fall, she said.

ON THE INTERNET:www.volunteerhealthcorps.org.

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