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Volunteer Doctors Needed at St. Luke's Free Medical Clinic

Local Missions Organization

Missions

Calling all upstate doctors and medical professionals. A Spartanburg clinic devoted to helping those in need is looking for some help of their own. Appointments are booked out into mid-January at St. Luke’s Free Medical Clinic in Spartanburg. They’re looking for more volunteer providers to help.

A brick structure nestled in the heart of downtown Spartanburg that has become a large part of Dr. Otis Baughman’s life.

“They lose everything including their home and I take care of them here and they’re living in a car and working at McDonald’s to make it. Those are the kind of stories you hear,” said St. Luke’s Free Medical Clinic Volunteer Mental Health Specialist, Dr. Otis Baughman III.

He got involved with St. Luke’s Free Medical Clinic decades ago. Through those years, he has spent a lot of hours within those walls. That’s on top of an already busy career in medicine.

“I retired in 2016, still did my volunteer evenings once a month. By 2017, I got tired of that and said only give me the mental health patients,” said Dr. Baughman III.

But right now, the service he provides at the clinic is growing, dealing with what the pandemic is leaving behind.

“It has added to the hopelessness that many people feel,” Dr. Baughman III said.

But finding people like Dr. Baughman is getting more difficult for the executive director of the clinic, Patsy Whitney.

“With the onset of COVID, some of them are retired and just aren’t comfortable being here right now,” said Executive Director of St. Luke’s Free Medical Clinic, Patsy Whitney.

They’re looking for a handful of volunteer medical providers.

“We’ve been enrolling more people than usual. We’re able to help everybody who is eligible for our services but we are scheduling them out longer than we normally do,” said Whitney.

They’re putting a call out to medical professionals because Whitney told 7 News, the need they fill in this community isn’t going anywhere any time soon.

“There’s a ton of people out there who are still uninsured, low-income people. Some work one job, some work two, some can’t work,” Whitney told us.

Neither is Dr. Baughman III. However, he’s hoping his colleagues will answer the call for help.

“The people that need you are right here in this county. They live under the bridges, they live in their cars, they struggle to make it everyday,” Dr. Baughman III said.

Whitney said they’re looking for any and all medical providers, that includes nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

If you are a medical professional who would like to volunteer, you can find a link to the clinic’s website below.

https://www.slfmc.org/


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(https://www.wspa.com/news/spartanburg-free-medical-clinic-in-need-of-more-doctor-volunteers-amidst-pandemic/)

  • Hours per Month: 5
  • Contact Person: Patsy Whitney