Hannibal Free Clinic honors volunteers at appreciation luncheon

HANNIBAL, Mo. — The Hannibal Free Clinic held its annual volunteer appreciation luncheon March 1 in the Hannibal Regional Conference Center.

In a press release, Sharon Webster, director of the Hannibal Free Clinic, said, “This is a way to say thank you to our volunteers and donors and to show them how much we appreciate what they do to keep the Hannibal Free Clinic going strong.”

This year’s recipient of the “Supporting Our Service (SOS)” award is the Stone Prairie Foundation, which reached out to the Hannibal Free Clinic several years ago to learn more about its mission and what it does for the residents of northeast Missouri. The foundation has since made several undesignated donations to the Free Clinic to be used as needed. These funds have been vital to help the clinic meet the changing needs of Free Clinic patients, such as purchasing testing supplies for patients with diabetes, providing access to mental health resources and contributing towards everyday expenses of the clinic.

This year’s Caring Heart award was given to Dr. Edward Cline, a podiatrist at Hannibal Regional Medical Group. Cline always has been willing to see the Free Clinic patients with foot-related issues. This especially impacts Free Clinic patients with diabetes, as the care from Cline helps prevent serious complications in the future.

The Heart Beat award was presented to the somewhat behind-the-scenes volunteers. This year’s recipients are Paula Crane, Lisa Blackburn and Janie Leathers.

Crane has been a volunteer since the early days of the Free Clinic when the building was on Grand Avenue. Blackburn volunteers weekly to review charts and ensure the filing is done correctly.

Leathers is a medical student currently doing her clinical rotations at Hannibal Regional. She was the catalyst in establishing a partnership with the A.T. Still University School of Dentistry and Oral Health. Dental students are now providing supervised dental care to Free Clinic patients.

The Hannibal Free Clinic is a non-profit community charity providing free primary healthcare to low-income patients in the region who are uninsured. The Free Clinic assists with connecting patients to limited chiropractic, dental and vision services. The Hannibal Free Clinic partners with Clarity Healthcare to supply patients with access to mental health resources.