Why Volunteer?

You will be rewarded
VIM SD offers a unique and rewarding structure, available nowhere else that we know of, to practice your skills and receive in return far more than you imagine. VIM SD is by appointment only, so you won’t see a frustrated patient who has been waiting hours in reception. You will get 30 minutes for each appointment. Did/do you get that amount of time in your practice? Think about that, 30 full minutes with your patients. Patients who are brimming with gratitude and bursting to tell you their story, and how wonderful it feels to be treated like they matter, who have not gotten medical treatment for years and know (and appreciate) the value of what you are providing.

In your 30 minutes you might get to experience such things as:

• Seeing a 6’ 4” man stand up straight, pain-free, for the first time in over a year and watching him bear-hug the 5’ 8” anesthesiologist who did it.
• Discover that a woman who appeared to be shy had a mouth of rotten teeth. When you are able to make a pro-bono dental referral you’ll hear back from the volunteer scheduler who made the call and learn that the woman burst into tears.
• Using instantly available lab results, prescribe life-saving medication to a middle aged woman with diabetes and hypertension who had gone untreated for years.

You will see these patients again, the most rewarding patients you will ever have.

You will be challenged

Seeing patients who have not been treated in years often means multiple issues are involved. Your work will be invigorating, and your best skills will be needed and used. Your will know these patients, and their trust and reliance on you will stretch you and infuse your work with passion. We guarantee it.

You will be protected

Malpractice is covered by the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) of 2004, signed into law by President Bush. Healthcare professionals providing medical care free of charge are considered employees of the federal government if sued. Therefore the government gets taken to court, and if a claim is substantiated, the government pays it. You can check out the coverage here, and read the volunteer acknowledgement form that was reviewed by our legal team consisting of 3 attorneys, all currently practicing, one in healthcare regulatory and corporate law, one as general counsel for an international health insurance organization, and one the former lead counsel for Scripps Clinic. Click here to read the volunteer acknowledgement form.

You will be on a team

You will work with people who are there because they want to be there. Your nurse is a volunteer. The receptionist is a volunteer. The scheduler, and computer tech, and webmaster, and lawyer, and facility manager are volunteers. They are there for the same reason you are: to give something to others, to soak in the joy of service most of the time and patiently endure the drudgery of service in between, and in the end to feel more vibrant and alive.

What does a VIM volunteer physician look like?

A VIM volunteer doctor is a primary or specialty care M.D. She knows that stability to the team and the patients is important so she commits to a 2 hour block once a week for 3 months, or a similar level of participation. He has a sense of adventure, and knows that working in a volunteer environment occasionally requires flexibility and creativity. She knows that as a specialist, she may not get to volunteer each week but instead will be asked, by appointment, to come to the clinic from time to time for referrals from a primary care doctor. He supports VIM’s Medical Director (a physician) in adhering to and suggesting improved standards of care and clinic procedures. She is a positive force when dealing with patients and volunteers.

How to take the next step:

Contact our medical director by calling the clinic and leaving your contact information so that he can get back to you to discuss your background and interest. You will be given the opportunity to shadow a VIM doctor on a clinic day and get a feel for the operation. If VIM looks like a good fit for you, and you look like a good fit for VIM, you’ll become part of the VIM team. But the first step is merely a few minutes to send an email and the willingness to consider becoming involved. If you felt a tug at anything you read here, you owe it to yourself to explore the possibilities!