This day was a lot different than the passed two days because I was on the medical floor shadowing Doctor and nurses verse being upstairs with the behind the scenes staff. I arrived at 7:30 and waited to meet with Dr. Warren, a pediatric doctor and the founder of the Good Samaritan health center. He stepped into his office around 8 and we started talking as he handle some other things. Dr. Warren had a patient that was suppose to arrive at 8:30 but didn't end up showing up so we went back to his office and I had a longer more formal interview. Dr. Warren started to tell me about how the Good Samaritan was started and what drove him to start a center like this one. Dr. Warren found himself asking a lot how can I live out my New Testament Christianity? In 1995 he felt a calling to try and get better health care to the poor but was not sure how to go about that. That same year he went to Techwood baptist center which was a church in the intercity. Here he was looking for a family that his family could "adapt" for the Christmas season and hopefully find someone that could help get him better connected to the people in the intercity. Well once he got to the center they gave him a tour around and much to his surprise there was a clinic up stairs of the center. Right then and there he felt the Holy Spirit talk to him and he knew this is where he needed to be. After deliberating on it for a month or so he decided to leave his practice and start working there. Three years later they built the first Good Samaritan center on Ivan Allen boulevard. They remained there for 10 years then once the world of Coke and aquarium were built they decided to move because that was no longer the intercity. They have been at their new spot for seven years and experience no problems with violence. Dr. Warren feels like this is what God has called him to do. He refers to Luke 9:1-2 this verse reads, "he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick." Dr. Warren feels that the center is his vehicle to do two of those things, heal the sick and preach the gospel. The name Good Samaritan is also a biblical reference to Luke 10:25-37.
After that interview he told me some other interesting things about the clinic. Their pharmacy does not have any narcotics and they rarely prescribe narcotics because they don't want to have drug seekers start showing up and they do not want to be broken into. Dr. Warren was scheduled to have several patients today and only one of them showed up. The first boy we met with had been throwing up all night and still nauseous this morning. Dr. Warren after the exam established that it was either food poisoning or a stomach bug. The next person we saw was a little girl who was 9 but at first glance looked like she could have been 12 or 13. I went to exam her with the nurse practitioners. She was in due to head aches and a sore throat. The nurse practitioners decided that it could be a viruses or just from the pollen. The last child that the nurse practitioners and I saw was a 6 month old baby who was in for her 6 month check up. This little girl was adorable her mother was from Brazil and her father was Asian however he was no longer in the picture. The mother worked as a house keeper and lived in a shelter with her 6 month old baby. All of her family was still and Brazil so she practically alone raising this child. The baby however was a very happy go lucky baby. Everything in the check up was normal and the baby was completely healthy but hear that mom's story was heart breaking. That was the last patient we saw for the day so after that baby I left.
So interesting to see how you will be spending time at a place like Good Sam and at Piedmont. I assume you recall our trip to Good Sam with Urban Experience! Glad you will be back there having a more in-depth experience. And I look forward to hearing about your continued adventures. I imagine that interacting with people who are struggling with their health will give you a very unique perspective on the human experience. We reveal a lot about ourselves and our priorities when we are vulnerable. And certainly a place like Good Sam shows how important it is for all people to have access to health care.
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