Estate Preview Party and Sale

Green Country Free Clinic will host the Dr. David Miller Estate Preview Party and Sale at our future dental clinic site, 321 Delaware Ave., Bartlesville, Wednesday, March 28th, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 and include refreshments and admission to the early sale.

Included is an astounding collection of antiques and collectibles, hunting, fishing and camping gear. Oriental art, antique clocks, kitchen equipment and appliances. Chinaware, glassware, bath and bed linens. Hand and power tools, many hardback books….and much, much more.

The estate sale continues Thursday, March 29 through Saturday March 31st.

Green Country Gallop – Dr. David Miller Memorial 5K Run /Walk

Lace up your running shoes Saturday, March 10, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. for the Green Country Gallop – Dr. David Miller Memorial 5K Run / Walk, starting at 6th and Jennings in Bartlesville, OK. Onsite race day registration is available.

Description
The “Green Country Gallop” run is a 5K chip timed race for walkers, joggers, and runners. The race is conducted on a USATF Certified course circling through the downtown Bartlesville area. Stick around afterwards for refreshments and door prizes. All proceeds will benefit Green Country Free Clinic.

Early Sign Up – http://www.earlysignup.com/greencountrygallop

5k Run / Walk — $20.00 Early Signup (1/6 at 12:00 a.m. through 3/8 at 6:00 a.m.)

Fun Run — $10.00 Early Signup (1/6 at 12:00 a.m. through 3/8 at 6:00 a.m.)

Run from the Couch — Get a t-shirt without running the race — $10.00 Early Signup (1/17 at 12:00 a.m. through 3/8 at 6:00 a.m.)

Packet Pick-Up
Friday, March 9th 4:30 -7:30 p.m.
Green Country Free Clinic
500 Southeast Frank Phillips, Bartlesville OK

Date And Location
Saturday March 10th, 2012 at 10:00 a.m.
Race day registration opens at 8:30 a.m.
Race Starts at: 6th and Jennings Bartlesville, OK

T-Shirt
Short sleeved t-shirt guaranteed to pre-registered runners.

Awards
Overall male and female winners.
Top 3 male and female finishers in each age division.

Chip Timing

Emily Hays, Patient Advocate, and Helen K. McHale, MSN, Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner

We were pleased to receive this note of appreciation from Susan, one of our patients:

I am blessed to have been accepted in the chronic care program. I have diabetes with acute neuropathy, and have been fighting to get my disability for 3 years, and if it were not for Helen, Emily and the entire staff at Green Country, I would not have any help for these issues. They are truly my angels and I am so very thankful.

Susan, we are very blessed to have the staff and volunteers who allow us to accept from two to five new “chronic” patients per week.

We treat diabetes (and other chronic diseases) by helping patients:

- Gain good control of their disease
- Minimize complications
- Live life to the fullest

We look forward to helping you gain control of your diabetes and neuropathy.

Readers can learn more about Green Country Free Clinic’s success with diabetic patients in our earlier post, “Diabetics Improve at Green Country Free Clinic”.

Today I received the note below from a friend, and am grateful for her donation. We always appreciate the money you so generously give, because it enables us to keep on providing health care to people in need.

Dear Cindy,

This morning I wrote to you, intending to mail you a check for $100. Later in the day I saw Dan, who said he would also donate $100 to the clinic.

So here are two $100 checks, one from each of us. Receiving Dan’s check was a big surprise, and we both had tears in our eyes as I thanked him and we talked about the work of the clinic.

Dan said, “Tell them it’s great what they’re doing, and to keep doing it.”

The wonderful part about this is that when I first thought of sending you a check, I was hoping it might motivate more people to give. Dan made that happen without my even asking.

If one person reading this sends you $5, that might mean you’ll have money for cough syrup for a sick child. I know you care for diabetics, heart patients, people with psychological problems, and that you’re hoping to soon also help dental patients.

I’m guessing a $50 donation could help people with more of the sicknesses you treat, from colds and flu and earaches to more serious diseases.

So this is a note to you, Cindy, but it’s also a note to anyone reading this. Dear readers, your giving matters, a lot.

Healing the sick is a worthy, noble cause. You don’t have to be a doctor or a nurse to help heal the sick. You can help by writing a check to Green Country Free Clinic and sending it today.

Sincerely,
(Name withheld by request)

Please mail your tax-deductible donation to:

Green Country Free Clinic
500 S.E. Frank Phillips Blvd.
Bartlesville OK 74003

Lately we’ve had great success in helping many of our patients quit smoking cigarettes using a medication called Chantix.

Combined with the medical skills and encouragement our staff gives, Chantix has helped about 30 patients at Green Country Free Clinic quit smoking in the past two years.

We’re especially pleased with these results because some of our patients were people who had smoked for 30 or 40 years.

In the past, our clinic offered a biweekly smoking cessation clinic, but almost no one was able to quit or cut down considerably. We eventually gave up this program because it wasn’t effective.

Basically, our patients who want to quit smoking now take Chantix over a 12-week course, and at the end of that time they either have quit or reduced their smoking considerably.

If a patient still has a problem with smoking after 12 weeks, they take a break from the medication and we help them assess what problems blocked their progress, such as stress at work or home. We listen, offer advice and encouragement, and sometimes counseling services.

We then start our patient taking Chantix over a second 12-week period. For many people, the 12 to 24-week time is all they need, and then they don’t ever smoke again. There are some potential side effects, but we’ve only had one or two people that had any problem at all with Chantix.

We also give our patients all kinds of accolades when they cut down or stop smoking. The first question I’ll ask a patient is, “Have you cut down?” When they say yes, I tell them how terrific that is.

We encourage people every time they reach a milestone, such as cutting back to 10 cigarettes a day.

When they come in and say, “I quit, I haven’t smoked in two weeks,” we clap and we draw a big smiley face in their chart. We’ll brag to volunteers and staff in the clinic, “Guess what, so and so hasn’t smoked in two weeks,” and people from the clinic will say how fantastic that is.

Here at Green Country Free Clinic, we really celebrate when someone stops smoking. Chantix is helping us make a big positive difference.

According to the American Cancer Society, http://www.cancer.org, smoking is still a health problem in the United States in the following ways:

– About 46 million adults in the U.S. smoke and half will die prematurely from smoking
– Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death
– Smoking causes nearly one in five deaths from all causes

Green Country Free Clinic would like to express its sorrow at the loss of Dr. David Dow Miller, 57, who died of a heart attack in his home on Friday, November 19, 2010. Dr. Miller generously served as one of our volunteers and was a much-loved member of the Bartlesville community. His medical specialty was obstetrics and gynecology.

Dr. Miller delivered 6,000 babies

We are very grateful to Dr. Miller’s family for designating our clinic to receive contributions in his memory. To make a donation, please send your check to Green Country Free Clinic, 500 SE Frank Phillips Blvd., Bartlesville, OK 74003.

Following is our memorial tribute to Dr. Miller:
________________

David D. Miller, M. D., 1953-2010

The number of lives touched by Dr. Miller was underscored when, with only a day’s notice, over 1,200 people attended his memorial service.

He was adored by his patients, admired and respected by his colleagues and loved by his family and friends. He was an extraordinarily gifted physician and teacher who willingly shared his skills, knowledge and insight with students, residents and fellow physicians. He gave generously and unconditionally.

Dr. Miller was a fiercely loyal friend, particularly in times of trouble.
If a friend, physician, resident or co-worker found him or herself in serious trouble, Dr. Miller would be the first to step forward and offer help, advice and the reassurance, that no matter how bad the situation seemed, it could be resolved. He did not hesitate to draw upon his own experiences and to acknowledge his many faults and imperfections. Indeed, he found great joy in the company of those equally endowed with faults and imperfections.

Dr. Miller with his granddaughter

Along with his skill, wisdom and insight, Dr. Miller possessed the inquisitiveness, enthusiasm and impishness of a fourteen year-old boy. (Plus a few other adolescent traits best discussed elsewhere.) He loved his dogs, his toys, his teams, his family and his friends. He loved his work: his babies – all 6,000 of them and their moms and dads. He loved the challenges and rewards of a dynamic medical practice and the opportunity it offered to make his corner of the world just a little bit better.

He did not love bullies, pretentious people, his teams’ rivals, or rutabagas. He excelled at testing limits, breaking rules he thought frivolous, teasing friends and co-workers and standing up to injustice.

Dr. Miller believed in and supported Green Country Free Clinic. He spent many hours volunteering at the Clinic. He readily accepted Clinic referrals, knowing they would be non-paying. He treated Clinic patients with the same dignity, respect and kindness as he did his more affluent patients. When they were with Dr. Miller they were special and he made certain they knew it.

Green Country Free Clinic is honored that Dr. Miller’s family has designated it as a recipient of contributions in Dr. Miller’s memory. All contributions will be received with gratitude and will be used by imperfect people to help other imperfect people. As you decide upon your gift, please also share your thoughts about or experiences with Dr. Miller.

We are very grateful and excited to announce that Credit Bureau of Bartlesville has donated to us a beautiful, 2200 square foot building located at 321 S. Delaware. We’re planning to open a FREE dental clinic there and are currently raising funds for remodeling and equipment.

Please send your donations, earmarked “For Dental”, to Green Country Free Clinic, 500 SE Frank Phillips Blvd., Bartlesville, OK 74003. For more information please call Cindy Pribil at 918-337-2015.

Green Country Free Clinic planning to add dental clinic

• Dental care for both adults and children
• Dental examinations and xrays
• Fillings and other restorative dental treatments
• Relief from dental pain
• Relief from dental infection
• Patient education about daily flossing and brushing
• Professional, compassionate and courteous care

Green Country Free Clinic now encompasses an acute clinic for short-term illnesses such as colds and flu, a chronic disease clinic for ilnesses such as diabetes and hypertension, and a mental health clinic for those seeking relief from emotional difficulties.

The dental clinic will broaden our services and enable patients to live healthier lives, save their teeth and smile with greater confidence.

Thank you for helping us build Green Country Free Clinic’s dental clinic!

I’d like to introduce you to three people whose compassion and generosity have contributed much to Green Country Free Clinic. In their own words, they tell a bit about their work with us. We’ll feature more profiles like this in upcoming weeks.
__________________

William L. Fesler, M. D.

William L. Fesler, M.D.

It has been a very special honor to have been associated with so many wonderful people at the Clinic all these years.

The Clinic has provided an avenue for me to serve my God and community. It has been a way for me to give back to those in need. I have been so blessed to be able to serve in this capacity.

It has been great to see how the Clinic has grown and new services have been added. One of the most impressive services has been the drug program, which has been worth thousands of dollars to untold numbers of patients.

__________________

Christina Jackson

Christina Jackson

More than anything, working at Green Country Free Clinic has taught me compassion. Through prayer and my work of providing the medications, I see how much I can help people in need.

Working at the clinic has opened my eyes to how expensive medication is, how hard it is to get, and how many sick people there are that aren’t being properly taken care of.
__________________

Peggy Kuhn

Peggy Kuhn

I had to quit working at the Clinic because of health problems, both hip replacement and cancer. I now volunteer with the Animal Rescue Foundation of Bartlesville. I went from helping people to animals.

____________________________

Green Country Free Clinic’s 20th anniversary party on May 22 was a happy celebration of our successes. We were thrilled to host our biggest event ever!

Thanks to all our friends and supporters for sharing a wonderful evening of visiting with one another, enjoying good food, live music and our silent auction.

Here are pictures from the party. Click [Show as slideshow] below to see them as a slideshow.  Or, click [Show picture list] and then on any image to see it enlarged.

[Show as slideshow]

This is the third and last article in a series about how Green Country Free Clinic began.

One of the hardest things about starting the clinic in 1990 was finding a facility, because we didn’t have the funds for our own place. During our first three years we rented space from another agency called Family Care Services, at 1820 W. Hensley in Bartlesville.

They closed their doors at 5 p.m., so we came in at 4:30 and operated our clinic from 5:00 to 9 p.m. They allowed us to use some filing cabinets and a cabinet to store our medications.

For three years, we were open one night a week for acute patients only, people with common short-term illnesses such as colds, flu, earaches and so on. During each clinic, we worked with two volunteer doctors and could see 25 patients.

Besides getting the clinic’s space, gaining the support of volunteer doctors was also crucial to our operation.

I initially asked them to help in a speech I gave to the local medical society at one of their monthly meetings, but more importantly I wrote a letter to each and every single physician in Bartlesville. In it, I stated that I would be calling and following that up with a brief visit to explain about the clinic and find out their level of willingness to be involved.

So, I followed up with a visit to every doctor in this town, close to 80 in all. With rare exceptions, the response was very, very supportive.

One physician, who was semi-retired, told me I would never get the doctors to volunteer. I guess he got proved wrong.

Not only have doctors and nurses volunteered their medical expertise and time, but the medical community has given us space and enabled us to eventually own our facility.

In 1993, Jane Phillips Medical Center allowed us to move into one of their buildings, which had became vacant when an Oklahoma University Medical School residency program decided to close its doors in Bartlesville. I spoke with one member of the board of directors at Jane Phillips Medical Center and pleaded a case to use the building for the clinic, and won.

That building was located about a block west of where we presently are. Once we moved there in 1993, we were able to really start growing because we had access to our space 24/7. We were soon able to be open five days a week.

Then in early 2001, Jane Phillips Medical Center wanted to use our site for another purpose. They worked with us to enable relocating to our present space at 500 S.E. Frank Phillips Boulevard, which they also owned.

They made an agreement with us that if we could raise the money to remodel and expand it, then they would deed the building over to us.

It took about six months for us to write grants and raise half a million dollars for the building renovation. It took another 10 months to complete the construction work, and then we moved into our own, permanent space here in 2002.

We are very fortunate because the Bartlesville community, including the medical community, has supported the clinic throughout our 20 year history.

You can support something for a couple of months or a year or two, but to stay in support for 20 years says a lot. That’s a long-term commitment.

We at the clinic are most grateful.

Cindy Pribil, Director, Green Country Free Clinic

A feature in the Examiner-Enterprise of Saturday, May 1, 2010, tells more.

Here is the opening and a link to the full article, “Beta Sigma Phi honors Women of the Year”:

The Beta Sigma Phi chapters of Bartlesville, Xi Alpha Theta and Xi Theta, celebrated the 79th Founder’s Day anniversary with a banquet at First United Methodist Church. The chapters presented several awards and recognized two Bartlesville women as co-honorees for the 2010 Beta Sigma Phi Woman of the Year Award.

She received her RN and nursing degree from Tulsa Community College and met her husband-to-be, Gerald Pribil, in 1976 when they were both volunteering at Neighbor for Neighbor, a free clinic in Tulsa.

Read more in: The Examiner-Enterprise

This is part two of a series of posts about how Green Country Free Clinic began in 1990.

By 1989, Gerald and I had been married for several years, had two children and had moved to Bartlesville. He had become an MD and opened a family practice. I was a registered nurse working at Jane Phillips Medical Center.

At that time Bartlesville was very booming and affluent, but typically when an area is prospering, the non-affluent have fewer services available.

I could see there was a need for a free medical clinic in Bartlesville. There were poor people here who wouldn’t get medical care in any other way.

I spent the year from 1989 to 1990 getting ready to open the clinic’s doors. I got support, advice and guidance from many people who had worked in free clinics, or who knew about legal issues such as incorporating and getting non-profit status.

Gerald played a huge part in encouraging me and supporting the clinic. In the early years, he was one of the major staff members treating patients. He was all for the clinic, and still is today.

My parents were always there to help too, answering questions and guiding me, both during the process of starting the clinic and later.

When they moved to Bartlesville in 1993, my mother became a volunteer, and soon became the coordinator of the non-medical volunteers. My late Dad did all of our bookkeeping and was treasurer. They both made a very big commitment to the clinic.

My church family at St. James Catholic Church here in Bartlesville was also instrumental in helping start the clinic, including Father Skeehan, who was pastor in 1989. They gave me some seed money to start — I think it was about $500.

Some of our first volunteers and most of our founding board members came from St. James Church as well. We’re not a Catholic or religious-oriented clinic, though. They were just the people I knew, so they helped.

From the start of planning, it was obvious that the clinic would need both a space and doctors who would see patients on a volunteer basis.

I’ll write more about how we found both in my next post.

When people ask me why I founded Green Country Free Clinic, I tell them I was actually called to do this. God called me to start the clinic, and I tried to say no a couple times, but God doesn’t take no very graciously.

In my next few blog posts, I’ll talk about how the clinic started in 1990, and invite any of you who have supported us or received our services to comment at the end of a post.

In 1990, our present waiting room didn't yet exist.

I want you to know that I thank and appreciate all of you, the doctors, nurse practitioners, physicians assistants, nurses, all of our medical and non-medical volunteers, board members and our generous donors — those of you who give your time, compassion, skills and dollars to keep us going.

I rarely single out individuals by name for praise, because inevitably I will fail to mention another person who has given us just as much help. There are many hundreds of you, and simply not enough time to individually recognize you.

That is why I invite you to participate by adding comments to the end of this or any of our blog posts. You can share who you are and what you contributed or received from the clinic, how it has been important to you, or perhaps how we might improve.

My first exposure to a free medical clinic was in the 1970’s, when I was a nursing student working at a free clinic in Tulsa.

I was gaining valuable experience treating patients who otherwise couldn’t afford care, and learning how the clinic operated. There I also met my husband-to-be, Gerald Pribil, who was then a medical student volunteering.

I’ll write more about how Green Country Free Clinic started in my next post.

Diabetics are one patient group with whom we’ve had exceptional success. We are very meticulous about getting them on board to be involved in their own health care, to keep their disease controlled and to prevent or shorten their experience of complications.

When someone is a diabetic, they can use a test that monitors what their average blood sugar has been in the last three months. We routinely get this test done on our patients.

It’s a graph, and we use it to show a diabetic patient their process of maintaining their blood sugar. We draw a line across it to show them where a target level, their goal, should be.

There are more potential side effects to diabetes than with any other chronic disease process, because it can effect every single body system.

It can negatively effect eyesight. It raises the risk for kidney disease and for cardiovascular disease.

So when our patient and medical team work together to get diabetes under control, we’re accomplishing a huge feat, especially when it’s probably never been in control in the patient’s whole life. We get people who have never had good awareness and management of their diabetes.

When we work hard and spend many hours with our diabetic patients, investing a lot of time with education and accountability, and get their disease under good control, the ripple effect of that is just astounding. It affects the patient’s whole life for the better, and saves many thousands of health care dollars.

If you keep one patient off of dialysis, one no-pay patient that health care dollars are going to have to pay for, that’s a savings of thousands and thousands of dollars for one hospital, in one town.

We have hundreds of diabetics at Green Country Free Clinic, and we work with them on a daily basis to get them engaged, accountable and in charge of managing their disease.

When it works, it’s a triumph — both for our patients and us as caregivers.

We can hardly believe 20 years have passed since Green Country Free Clinic opened its doors in 1990, but thanks to all our friends and supporters, we’re still going strong.

Please join us for a party and fundraiser on Saturday, May 22, 2010, 6 p.m to 10 p.m. at beautiful Woolaroc Events Center!

We’re excited to be hosting our anniversary at Woolaroc, with its wildlife preserve, rustic lodge and museum.

Woolaroc is located on Oklahoma State Highway 123, 12 miles southwest of Bartlesville and 45 miles north of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

We’ll be celebrating our achievements there and having some fun with all of you. You’re more than welcome to join us if you are:

• A past or present Green Country Free Clinic employee
• A past or present clinic volunteer
• A Green Country Free Clinic supporter

Come on down for enjoyment, conversation and more, including –

• Live entertainment
• Refreshments
• Exciting fundraising auction
• Spectacular Woolaroc location with scenic views of Clyde Lake

We’re looking forward to our 20th Anniversary Celebration, and hope to see you there Saturday, May 22!

For more information, call us at (918) 337-2015.