Ethiopia RPCV Edward Olsen chosen as clinic director
Olsen chosen as clinic director
Anne Thomas, Director of the Dare County Department of Public Health, announces the selection of Edward Olsen as the executive director of the Community Care Clinic of Dare (CCCD).
According to Thomas, "This brings our county one big step closer to making the clinic envisioned by the Healthy Carolinians of the Outer Banks Access to Health Care task force a reality for our citizens. Mr. Olsen brings valuable experience and skills that will help lay the groundwork necessary to open the clinic in the spring."
Olsen has worked in the health care field in senior level management positions since 1978 after spending four years after college in the Peace Corps. In the Peace Corps, Olsen worked with a team of health care professionals to combat the high incidence of smallpox in the African nation of Ethiopia as part of a U.N. sponsored program. "We came extremely close to eradicating that disease in all of Africa during our time there. The work was intense and the planning was complex, but the results we achieved and the appreciation shown by the residents made our efforts well worth it," said Olsen.
Olsen said he became interested in the concept of a clinic over the past year after listening to a presentation made during a meeting of a community organization to which he belongs, the North Banks Rotary Club. "While listening to the presentation, I realized immediately that the clinic would benefit the entire community of Dare, not merely the people who visit the clinic. The clinic will make individuals and Dare County on the whole, healthier," he said.
After the Rotary presentation, Olsen joined the volunteer Access to Health Care task force to explore ways in which a clinic could become a reality for people in Dare who had no health insurance and could not afford proper health care services on their own.
The task force established general guidelines for the operation of a clinic in Dare County and explored sources for funding it. Blue Cross/Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation initially provided a $25,000 grant with the promise of another $25,000 if the task force could raise $25,000 through local fundraising efforts.
According to Olsen, "That goal has been realized. The enthusiastic response on the part of Dare County residents both in the number and value of individual contributions is making our clinic a reality."
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The Board of Directors of the Community Care Clinic will meet in late January to finalize operating procedures, determine eligibility guidelines and select an opening day for the clinic. The task force has already established that the clinic will run four nights each week from 6 to 9 p.m.
The sites for the clinic will be the Department of Public Health in Manteo, the Outer Banks Hospital in Nags Head, the Regional Medical Center in Kitty Hawk and the Health Department building in Buxton. The clinic will run one night each week in each location.
The clinic will be open and free to all eligible persons living or working in Dare County. Services will include primary care for ongoing medical problems and pharmacy help for medications at little or no cost. The task force is working on establishing a transportation system to make the clinic more accessible.
Healthy Carolinians is a state initiative that encourages and supports community-based partnerships to identify and address health issues in their respective counties and regions. Local Healthy Carolinians coalitions operate in all areas of North Carolina. Healthy Carolinians of the Outer Banks has identified several concerns in Dare County and established task forces to determine solutions for those concerns.
Help for the clinic is still needed. Volunteers are needed for the following positions:
• Nurse Practitioners and Family Nurse Practitioners
• Physicians' Assistants and Extenders
• Physicians
• Licensed and Registered Nurses
• Clerical Support
• Language Interpreters
Also, people are asked to continue making donations to ensure the success of the clinic and/or help by volunteering time at one of the clinic locations. Anyone wishing to contribute time or money is asked to call the Community Care Clinic of Dare at (252) 475-5041.
