Wilkes-Barre Volunteers in Medicine

In 1994, Dr. Jack McConnell brought a group of medical professionals together to create the first Volunteers in Medicine Clinic in Hilton Head, South Carolina. There are currently over 90 Volunteer in Medicine Clinic located throughout the United States. The Volunteers in Medicine Clinic model relies on retired and practicing medical professionals to serve individuals and families who have no access to ongoing healthcare, typically the working low income. Volunteers in Medicine Wilkes-Barre Clinic opened its doors in the summer of 2008 in the downtown area. VIM Wilkes-Barre is a full service free medical and dental clinic. The clinic provides primary and preventative health care to financially eligible individuals and families in Luzerne County, PA who otherwise have no access to public or private health insurances. The Dental Clinic opened its’ door to patient back in January 2011. Luzerne County has been identified as having an “unusually high need” for dental services because only one water system in the county (Hazelton City) is fluoridated. This translates to 87.3% of the population without access to fluoridated water. Statistics show that the uninsured population in the nation is estimated to be 14 percent of the population or approximately 43 million people. In Pennsylvania, the number of uninsured residents is approximately 10 percent, representing 1 million people. Luzerne County is no exception to this problem. There are 43,125 residents in the city of Wilkes-Barre. The city itself has a 17.8% poverty rate. At 200% of the poverty level, this assumes that some 7675 people could be potential clients seen by Volunteers in Medicine from the city of Wilkes-Barre alone. There are more than 35,000 residents in Luzerne County who have a job, but do not have primary care insurance.