The Hannibal Free Clinic held its annual Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon on Tuesday, February 28, 2023 at the Hannibal Regional Conference Center. “This is a way to say thank you to our volunteers and show them how much we appreciate what they do to keep the Hannibal Free Clinic going,” shares Sharon Webster, Director of the Hannibal Free Clinic.
This year’s recipient of the Supporting Our Service Award was F & M Bank and the Riedel Foundation. The Riedel Foundation has supported the Hannibal Free Clinic since before the first patient was treated. The first grant was directed at bringing in a consultant from Volunteers in Medicine to help get the clinic up and running and since that time the Riedel Foundation has assisted with several different projects, including upgrades to equipment and technology. The most recent grant came in early 2022 when the dental panorex x-ray unit suddenly stopped working. The Riedel Foundation quickly responded and helped secure the funds to replace and upgrade the equipment, improving the care patients of the Hannibal Free Clinic receive.
This year’s Caring Heart Award was given to the Community Foundation Serving West Central Illinois and Northeast Missouri, which has been a supporter of the Hannibal Free Clinic since very early in its development. They have assisted with developing programs to provide assistance that some may consider outside the box, such as purchasing pneumonia vaccines, programs to assist patients to have vision exams, share the cost of dentures, share the cost of access to exercise facilities, and replenishing healthy foods to assist patients on special diets. During the COVID pandemic, they provided extra funds to the Hannibal Free Clinic to help make up for fundraising short falls and served as a conduit for other anonymous donations.
The HeartBeat Award is presented to our everyday, somewhat behind-the-scenes volunteers - without them the Hannibal Free Clinic wouldn’t run as smoothly. This year, several volunteers and team members were honored. Throughout the COVID pandemic volunteers were not able to physically be at the clinic, however several of them did help from home and did many other things to keep the clinic running. This year’s volunteer recipients are; Karen Sutor, Carolyn Schreiner, Linda Kennett and Jean Kane. They are at the clinic at least once a week to help with clerical and other needs and Karen manages our Medication Assistance program, which is a very large and detailed project all by itself. This year’s team member recipients are: Linda Chou, Haley Hurst, and Starla Dunn who consistently go above beyond to keep the clinic running. Haley and Starla have additional job duties with Hannibal Regional, but continue to focus on the patients at the Hannibal Free Clinic. We appreciate all of our volunteers, but these volunteers and team members have been the HeartBeat of the Hannibal Free Clinic.
The Hannibal Free Clinic is a non-profit community charity that provides free primary healthcare services to patients in the region who are uninsured and living in poverty. In addition to basic healthcare services, the Hannibal Free Clinic also provides a limited amount of chiropractic and dental services and partners with Clarity Healthcare for limited psychiatric services.