Welcome from the National Office

Greetings from the Volunteers in Medicine national office! The daffodils and tulips are in bloom, lilacs are beginning to flower, and the days are getting warmer, Spring has finally arrived here in Vermont. We thought this would be the perfect time to launch our first e-newsletter. We plan to send out this e-newsletter, filled with news from the national office and VIM Alliance clinics, on a quarterly basis to coincide with the Vermont seasons.

We invite VIM Alliance members to share your stories about successful fundraising events, clinical programs, awards, and other news items of interest. Please send your news stories to skelley@vimi.org so that we may consider them for publication in our newsletter.

Happy Spring!

Susan Kelley

AMA Foundation Honors Dr. Viola Startzman for Volunteerism

Viola Startzman, MD is a recipient of the 2008 Jack B. McConnell, MD Award for Excellence in Volunteerism. Dr. Startzman is the founder of the Viola Startzman Free Clinic, a member of the Volunteers in Medicine Alliance, located in Wooster, Ohio. Presented by the American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation, the award is given to senior domestic physicians for commitment to volunteer medical care to those without access to health care in the U.S.

Viola Startzman, MD, a 93 year old physician, has helped the underserved throughout her career. Through her determination and organization, the Healthcare 2000 Community Clinic opened in 1995, and in 2000 was renamed the Viola Startzman Free Clinic, providing quality medical and dental care to low income, uninsured residents of Wayne County, Ohio. In 2004, Dr. Startzman purchased and donated the Clinic’s medical building. She has organized physicians and nurses to provide services, worked on legal matters and raised funds for the Clinic. Last year, the Clinic provided nearly 10,000 patient visits.

In the early 1960’s, Dr. Startzman started a female healthcare clinic in the dining room of a female colleague’s home. Since she was a pediatrician, she sought additional training to become a gynecologist and the small clinic eventually became the local office of Planned Parenthood. Among her many volunteer activities, she developed a local hospice organization to care for cancer patients and is very active with First Presbyterian Church of Wooster. When asked what was the driving force behind her years of volunteer work, Dr. Startzman stated, “I think everyone has a right to health care, good health care, just as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

VIM Partnership with TechSoup

Volunteers in Medicine (VIM) has partnered with the nonprofit technology web site TechSoup (www.techsoup.org) to provide VIM Alliance members with a resource for their technology needs. Through this partnership, VIM Alliance members will have a dedicated TechSoup Account Manager to help expedite registration for TechSoup Stock’s Technology Product Donation Program.

TechSoup (www.techsoup.org) provides articles about technology issues specific to nonprofits, product reviews, online fundraising tips, as well as a variety of other resources. TechSoup Stock (www.techsoup.org/stock) distributes donated and discontinued technology products to nonprofits.

This year alone the VIM national office saved over $2,700 by purchasing Dreamweaver CS3 and Microsoft Office Professional software through TechSoup. Our TechSoup Account Manager, Ricci Powers, made the purchasing process easy and rewarding.

Ricci Powers can be reached via email at rpowers@techsoup.org or by telephone at (415) 633-9341. When sending her an email, please include the name of your clinic and indicate that you are a Volunteers in Medicine Alliance member in the subject line.

If this is your first time using TechSoup, be sure to have your EIN number (federal tax ID number) as well as the front page of your 501(c)(3) document available. Please take a moment to read the details around TechSoup’s Technology Product Donation Program at www.techsoup.org/stock/gettingstarted.

Book Review: “The Volunteer Recruitment Book” written by Susan J. Ellis (3rd Edition, Energize)

by Marge Hamrell

We recently purchased this book at the VIM national office and think it is worth mentioning and recommending to all VIM clinics. Perhaps many of you already have purchased it and it’s a staple in your library. The author, Susan Ellis, is an internationally recognized expert in the volunteer field.  She is widely published and a frequent speaker at national conferences.

This book is designed as a short, readable and efficient guide for organizations seeking to recruit and management volunteer workers.  The book is promoted as being able to:

• Pinpoint exactly why someone would want (or not want) to volunteer in your organization
  
  
• Find a fresh source of volunteers available within your community
  
  
• Develop recruitment tools and techniques that work

The book is written in a very concise directive style and packs most all the information any volunteer coordinator would find necessary in recruiting volunteers.  The key to good recruitment Ellis suggest is in your perspective of the volunteer.  Do you recognize the work and job that needs to be done before you ask people to volunteer?   Is there a written job description?  Does your organization fully appreciate that the volunteer represents a category in the staffing of the clinic?  How do you use supervision and staff interaction to satisfy the volunteer’s needs?

Ellis has an extensive library catalogue for all aspects of volunteerism and this volume offers the essential basics for any volunteer coordinator get started.  Keep this on the shelf and bring it down regularly. 

Monthly “hot topics” are a part of the free online newsletter Energize offers.  Visit http://www.energizeinc.com to sign up!