Fall 2011
In this Issue
2201 West Broad Street, Suite 205
Richmond, Virginia 23220
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- Total Value of Service since Access Now began Jan. 1, 2008 through Sept. 30, 2011: More than $14.7 million
- Total number of patients seen: More than 5,000
- Patients seen in 2010: 1,928
- Physician volunteers and mid-level providers: More than 900
Letter from Carolyn Thomas
The second half of 2011 has brought us some bleak statistics. The poverty rate for the country is over 15 percent. This has resulted in an 11 percent increase in the annual number of state residents seeking healthcare services from its 61 member clinics, according to a report by the Virginia Association of Free Clinics. The enrollment of new patients in Access Now for 2011 is on course to be nearly 13 percent more than 2010.
An Amazing Day!
Thanks to GiveRichmond.org and The Community Foundation for launching The Amazing Raise, which raised $5,425 in donations from 58 individuals to Access Now. In all, the 36-hour-long online event in October raised more than $631,000 for 271 organizations - $491,245 in donations and $140,225 in grant prizes.
Healing Hands from Pakistan
As a native of northwest Pakistan, Dr. Attique Samdani knows all too well the importance of helping people in need gain access to quality health care since almost everyone in his homeland of 160 million people lacks medical insurance. "The concept of insurance is very minimal," he says in his office at the Virginia Cancer Institute at Johnston-Willis Hospital in Chesterfield County.
Though he left his native land some 20 years ago to study oncology at Arizona State University, he returns home regularly to share the kind of compassionate care he has come to know and love as an Access Now physician volunteer.
A Carpenter's Story
John Rayfield was hurting–physically, emotionally and mentally. A self-employed carpenter in Richmond, Rayfield, 64, is trim, gregarious and loves doing home renovations and repairs.
But at times his life has been overshadowed by coronary heart disease. By his late 50s, he'd lost his father, mother and a brother to the condition, so when he started having heart problems himself, he knew he had to see a doctor–even if he couldn't afford it.
The Board of Directors and staff of Access Now wish to offer our sincere thanks for the tireless work, generous donations and unswerving dedication to our volunteer physicians, donors and health care partners, including:
- Bon Secours Richmond Health System
- HCA Virginia Health System
- Jenkins Foundation
- Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Inc.
- Richmond Memorial Health Foundation
- The Bank of America Foundation
- The Dominion Foundation
- The Skin Surgery Center
- Virginia Health Care Foundation
- Virginia Cardiovascular Specialists, P.C.
- West End Orthopaedic Clinic
Comments? Letters? Story ideas? Please email Chip Jones, Access Now's communications and marketing director, at cjones@ramdocs.org or call Chip at (804) 622-8136.