BY KAREN WALKER
When the pandemic shut down most of the world in March of 2020, Centre Volunteers in Medicine faced many of the same challenges other organizations faced — challenges including having to pivot to virtual technology, a scramble to find necessary PPE, and potential funding obstacles.
But despite some struggles, in the past two years the nonprofit managed to grow and expand its services, not just for its patients, but for the community atlarge.
CVIM provides free medical and dental care, prescription assistance, and case management services to qualifying uninsured residents of Centre County.
As Executive Director Cheryl White recalled, when the clinic was forced to close due to state restrictions, the staff had to quickly adapt to find new ways to serve their patients, including offering curbside prescription pickup in their parking lot and learning how to examine patients via telemedicine.
“We had to figure out that piece kind of on the run, because we weren’t really set up to do that,” she said.
When restrictions eventually lifted and patients were allowed back in the clinic, the organization faced new challenges, including needing to switch from paper patient charts to contactless electronic health records, developing new staff schedules to minimize the amount of people in the same physical space at one time, and finding special PPE to keep staff and patients safe during dental visits. In addition, as more people lost their jobs and their health insurance, CVIM’s client base began to increase rapidly.
“It’s not a fun time to look back at,” White said.
But some bright spots emerged through the difficulties.
For one thing, as soon as COVID-19 vaccines became available, CVIM began providing them, quickly adapting and increasing the scope of their vaccination operation beyond its immediate patient base.
It vaccinated 30 people at the first clinic; then 70; then 150; eventually moving the clinics to Mount Nittany Middle School and later, the Bryce Jordan Center, vaccinating 2,400 people a day.
“The people we were vaccinating in the beginning were so thrilled to get it. Everyone cried. The patients cried, the providers cried; people were so grateful. It was amazing,” White said.
With the help of hundreds of volunteers, CVIM is continuing to offer vaccination clinics to the community and has now provided more than 47,000 vaccines to Centre County residents.
Another positive development was the success of virtual versions of fundraising events, such as the annual trivia night dinner and the Central Cycling Classic Challenge.
“We were worried that with the shutdown, donors were going to withhold donations because of the instability in the financial markets and things like that, but we found just the opposite,” White said.
“People were really giving during that time because I think the community really recognized the fact that the nonprofits were hurting but were still taking care of people. This is an amazing community. It really is.”
In addition, CVIM purchased a much-needed larger facility last fall, recently launching its new $10 million “Building for a Healthier Future” campaign to help fund necessary renovations.
White said the organization is planning to move to the new building on Sandy Drive from its current location on Green Tech Drive before the end of 2022.
As the organization prepares for its future, White said she expects several of the adaptations from the past two years to continue.
“We feel like masks in healthcare facilities may never go away. And the telemedicine piece has proved most helpful with our patient population that struggles with transportation… So that piece will stay.”
