| UM churches bring medical care to Marylanders BY LINDA WORTHINGTON UMCONNECTION STAFF  The Mission of Mercy puts health care on wheels and takes it on the road. Susan Martin , a parish nurse at Calvary UMC in Mt. Airy, spends every other Monday helping to staff the Mission of Mercys mobile medical unit that parks at the church. The converted recreational vehicle provides free medical care for underinsured and uninsured patients. Many are also poor or homeless. All are in need of medical attention. Calvary UMC is the newest of nine stops the van makes in the Frederick, Thurmont and Westminster areas, providing services five days a week year-round. The church was looking for an opportunity for mission. This one knocked on our door, said Martin who serves as a liaison between the church and Mission of Mercy. The church provides more than a parking space. Its large auditorium is where registration, triage and waiting takes place. At Reisterstown UMC, the van spends from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. every other Tuesday and one Friday a month, where it has provided medical and dental services since 1995. Volunteers at the Reisterstown UMC clinic come from Glyndon UMC, Sacred Heart Catholic Church, All Saints Episcopal and Reisterstown Baptist, said coordinator Barbara Renner. Each clinic has three or four nurses who do assessments and assist the doctors and dentists and several volunteers who register participants. Spanish language interpreters are also on hand when needed, Renner said. Reisterstown and Glyndon UM churches also provide hot lunches for patients, volunteers and staff. Thats a real treat, Renner said. Jean Southard, a volunteer nurse from Sacred Heart, said the experience is the most marvelous thing that has happened in Reisterstown. Mission of Mercy, based in Emmitsburg, is a non-profit organization, founded in 1994 by Dr. Gianna Talone-Sullivan, who has a degree in pharmacology. Her husband, Dr. Michael Sullivan, a specialist in internal medicine, is one of two doctors the mobile clinic employs. He is also the mobile health centers medical director. It was tough getting started, Sullivan said. I guess trying to give health care for free is risky these days. At Reisterstown UMC, and most of the other sites, volunteer nurses, dentists, doctors and administrators provide the services to about 60 patients a day. Three-quarters of these patients the van serves are there for follow-up visits for a chronic condition, Sullivan said. These tend to include follow up visits for diabetes, hypertension and asthmatic conditions, said Martin, who coordinates the clinic activities. At Calvary UMC, where the medical ministry has been operating for only four months, a typical day includes 28 appointments and 15 walk-in clients. The van stores about 200 different free medicines onboard, already packaged and labeled. These are given to the clients as needed, bringing many chronic patients back for refills. Mission of Mercy can also get free X-rays, lab work, CAT scans and other tests from Carroll County General Hospital and Frederick Memorial Hospital for the clientele. I think (the hospitals) appreciate what we do for the community, and this is their way of supporting that, the doctor said. Sullivan has cross-trained his five different drivers for computer data entry and can access information on any of the patients through the onboard computer. One of the greatest needs Mission of Mercy has encountered is for volunteer dentists, Martin said. While the Reisterstown clinic has a volunteer dentist, the Mt. Airy one does not, though they hope by April to have someone in place. Often dental problems are an indication of other health problems, she said. The Mission of Mercy is supported through private benefactors and donations, with no government grants, Talone-Sullivan said. | 
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