Volunteers needed

By Deborah Moon

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“I’m feeling hopeful. Even though national health care is a disgrace, there is something each of us can do to make a difference,” Dr. Jill Ginsberg told the 50 people gathered for a program on volunteer opportunities for health care professionals.

Ginsberg, co-founder of North by Northeast Community Health Center, which provides free basic medical services to adults without insurance, was one of three speakers on volunteer opportunities at the Nov. 5 dinner of the Maimonides Society of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland.
   
“When you’ve done your seventh colonoscopy or 12th Pap of the day and are looking for a change that is free of liability and helpful to the community, think about these stories and these opportunities,” Maimonides Chair Dr. Larry Veltman said.
   

Veltman had already taken his own advice. He left a few days after the program to spend one week in Odessa volunteering his services through Jewish Healthcare International, one of the three programs presented at the event.
   
Dr. Jerry Kobrin, an ophthalmologist in St. Paul, Minn., who volunteers with JHI, came to Portland to discuss the volunteer organization that brings health care professionals from Israel and the Diaspora to improve healthcare in impoverished communities primarily in eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
   
Tikkun Olam, tzedakah and mitzvot are perfect descriptions of the work JHI does bringing health care, training and equipment to impoverished communities he said.
   
“We are non-sectarian, but clearly a Jewish organization there to help,” Kobrin said. “We provide care; we are there to build community. …By donating equipment, we make it easier for elderly Jews to get care.”
   
Closer to home, Carol Levine, LCSW, created Returning Veterans Resource Project NW to provide free mental health services to soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as to their families.
   
“I feel very strongly that it’s our responsibility as a community to provide a healing environment for these veterans whether we are for or against the war,” said Levine.
   
Noting the number of homeless Vietnam veterans now exceeds the number of American soldiers killed in that war, Levine said, “We can’t let that happen to another generation of young people.”
   
Volunteer opportunities are one three-hour shift a month at North by Northeast, one-hour a week providing therapy to a veteran or family member, or one week in an impoverished area.
   
Ginsberg noted doctors and nurse practitioners volunteering at the free clinic are covered by the county’s indemnification program.
   
For information on North by Northeast, call 503-287-4932 or visit www.nxneclinic.org. For JHI, visit www.jewishhealthcareinternational.org. For the Returning Veterans Project NW, visit www.returningveterans.com.