On Nov. 5 speakers share options for health professionals to volunteer

By Jewish Review

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Healthcare professionals seeking to make a difference in individuals’ or communities’ physical or mental health can learn about three concrete ways to do so when the Maimonides Society hosts a Nov. 5 program featuring three professionals who will share their volunteer experiences.

“Volunteer Opportunities for Jewish Healthcare Professionals” will include cocktails and dinner followed by presentations from Dr. Jill Ginsberg, Dr. Jerry Kobrin and Carol Levine, LCSW. Sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland’s Maimonides Society, the program begins at 7 p.m. at the Mittleman Jewish Community Center.
   
A family practitioner with Kaiser Permanente, Ginsberg in August of 2006 co-founded North by Northeast Community Health Center, a walk-in clinic that provides free basic medical services for adults. The clinic focues on providing preventive care and health management for chronic problems to those without health insurance in Portland’s medically under-served north and northeast neighborhoods.
   

The clinic is staffed by volunteer physicians, nurses, social workers and receptionists. Ginsberg will tell healthcare professionals at the Maimonides dinner how they can get involved at the clinic.
   
Volunteering internationally will be the focus of Kobrin’s talk. An ophthalmologist in St. Paul, Minn., Kobrin volunteers with Jewish Healthcare International, which was established in 1999 to enhance the quality of, and increase access to, healthcare services for vulnerable communities. JHI brings healthcare volunteers from the Diaspora and Israel to serve communities primarily in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
   
JHI has helped thousands of impoverished members of the Jewish community gain access to healthcare while improving the quality of healthcare for the entire community. Kobrin will provide details on how Portland physicians can participate in JHI programs.
   
Growing up while American soldiers were returning from Vietnam to face animosity at home, Levine wanted soldiers returning from Iraq to have a better homecoming. She created Returning Veterans Resource Project NW, an effort by Portland-area psychologists, social workers and other mental-health professionals to help returning soldiers get their lives back together.
Levine started the project by calling colleagues. Now she will tell Maimonides members how they can get involved.
   
Cost for the dinner and program is $40 with reservations by Nov. 1 or $48 thereafter. For reservations, contact Ben at 503-892-7417 or ben@jewishportland.org or register online at www.jewishportland.org/maimonides.