Holistic Recovery Includes Quality Healthcare: A UGM partner feature

Fionnuala Brown and her husband are both experienced medical professionals who’ve committed to serving the Inland Northwest community in a variety of ways. In addition to enjoying a full-time career as a clinical assistant professor at Washington State University and serving regularly at a public health clinic, Fionnuala volunteers at the UGM Medical Clinic at Anna Ogden Hall once a week. “Every week, my eyes open more and more to the struggles these women have had. When I try to express that to my students who are learning to be advanced practice providers, I can’t even convey the situations that they’ve gone through.”

Fionnuala and many other staff and volunteers at the clinic are licensed to provide basic medical exams, prescription medications, health and fitness advice and protocols, as well as referrals to specialists as needed. As an added benefit, many area specialists choose to volunteer once a month, providing their services free of charge to our guests.

“We’re here because

we want things to get better

for them.”

For the men and women staying at UGM, having in-house medical clinics means more than free medical care; it means receiving quality healthcare within the same safe, healing environment where trust is being established and dignity is being restored. Fionnuala says, “We’re here because we want things to get better for them. It’s building that trust, and being able to spend time with them, and meeting not just their medical needs, but also it’s, ‘I know you had a bad week. Do you want to talk about it?’ It’s holistic. You’re here, and you’re all in; these are your people and you’re attached to them. You love them and they love you. 

“Many of them, I meet in Phase 1, and then seeing them complete the program more than a year later, and seeing them add to society, and watching them grow. I think that’s what my husband and I love about this program. It’s structured, there’s high standards, but you can see that it works. And I have grown with them, professionally and personally, spiritually. I’ve probably gained more from them than they have from me.”

If there’s one thing we hear more than anything else from our 2,000+ volunteers across the ministry, that’s what it is. Serving others is a blessing that comes back, every time.