Medicine As It Was Meant to Be: Inside Xavier Clinic
For the patients and volunteer providers at Xavier Medical Clinic, access to care is a calling.
By Saint Francis Health System Staff
For the nearly 1,500 patients who call Xavier Clinic their medical home, access to quality healthcare is a lifeline. And for the volunteer providers who show up month after month to deliver that care, it's something closer to a calling.
"The patients are so appreciative just to have access to care at all," says Medical Director Rose Sloat, MD. "It's genuinely helping someone and watching their health change. I really enjoy spending time with our volunteers — there's a tremendous sense of camaraderie."
A Volunteer Model That Works
The clinic runs on approximately 25 volunteer providers, including five or six specialists, and about a quarter of the patients seen are children. Saint Francis physicians can volunteer simply by reaching out to Dr. Sloat.
Providers from outside the system — including retirees and those practicing elsewhere — can sign up through the volunteer section of the website and choose their own availability.
Even just a half day each month can make a difference.
For Sister Mary Gretchen Hoffman, MD, Xavier offers something that can be hard to find in modern medicine: the freedom to simply practice.
"There's a sense of offering medicine in the way you always wanted to," she said. "There isn't the external pressure that many doctors feel in the commercial world. Saint Francis provides the financial and physical support — and I get to be the one to actually deliver the care. I feel genuinely grateful for that opportunity."
That sentiment, she noted, is shared by newer volunteers as well. "Our specialist volunteers who are fresh to the clinic feel the same way. It comes back to who you're working with and who you're serving."
A Longterm Commitment to Patients
“Our biggest limiting factor is the number of volunteer providers,” says Dr. Sloat. “We can only take new patients based on provider availability.”
As Dr. Hoffman notes, patient turnover is very low.
“We never drop patients if we can prevent it. Current physicians like me will take on extra patients when a volunteer leaves. We are each patient’s primary care, and many of our patients have been coming to the clinic since it opened,” Dr. Hoffman says.
For Tulsa area physicians interested in volunteering, please call the clinic at 918-583-7233.
