An African American couple with a young child visited with church volunteers as they waited to see the doctor on Wednesday night of the opening. During the conversation, it was discovered that the family was homeless and in need of food. “We were able to provide food items from the Mt. Zion pantry and give them housing vouchers that had been purchased by Rayne from the Salvation Army,” said a smiling Thomas.
   In addition to former residents who have returned to the Central City area, a growing Hispanic population of workers who have arrived to participate in reconstruction is also in need of services. “We hope not only to provide medical help, but to wrap them into the conference’s Hispanic Ministry,” said Rev. Oscar Ramos-Gallardo, a GBGM missionary helping to expand established Hispanic ministries in New Orleans and throughout the Louisiana Conference.
   An Ecuadorian couple came in during the opening of “Luke’s House” because the husband had a health concern. After Ramos-Gallardo spoke to the couple, the man’s wife decided that she would also see the doctor. “She spoke with the nurse and a few tests were done. The medical staff discovered that she was anemic, and quite ill. The physician said that if she had not been taken care of that night, she would have been in the emergency room in a few days, in serious condition,” said Jiselle Bock, executive director for the free clinic.
   While waiting to be checked out, the husband asked the interpreter, “Well, who are these people?" Ramos-Gallardo answered, "These are volunteers from The United Methodist Church."
   “The man said that he could never remember feeling so welcome anywhere in America. He couldn't believe how patient and friendly everyone had been with him, and he said that he just felt so much love at the clinic,” said Bock.
   Ramos-Gallardo, thinking that the man had just arrived in the United States, asked him how long he had been in the country. The Ecuadorian replied, "I came to America in 1969."

Rev. Oscar Ramos-Gallardo works with patients

One of those little miracles involved Dr. Betty Lo, a professor in the Medical/Pediatrics department at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. After expressing an interest in a partnership with Luke's House, Berry and Lo established an agreement with the pediatric resident physicians at the school. “The residents volunteered every night for the opening and have agreed to staff the clinic regularly on Tuesday nights,” said a jubilant Bock.
    Other key elements needed for the clinic seemed to fall into place in the weeks prior to the opening. “Luke’s House” will be working with the St. Vincent de Paul Pharmacy to obtain medications for patients. “We received close to 1,000 pounds of donated supplies from a physician in upstate New York. Dr. Joseph Lalka happened to be retiring the week before our opening, and offered us supplies from his office. That gift saved us thousands of dollars,” said Dr. Berry.
   The three-night opening went smoothly in large part to the dozens of volunteers that came from as far away as Washington, Pennsylvania and Nebraska. “Dr. Jim Jantzen and his wife Amy, who is a registered nurse, not only helped to staff the clinic, but helped to set up before the clinic before we opened on Tuesday. There also were several volunteers from Nebraska, who regularly serve at Clinic with a Heart, our clinic model,” said Bock.
   The idea of opening a free clinic came from members of volunteer work teams from St. Marks United Methodist Church in Lincoln, Nebraska. Since December of 2005, a total of 10 teams from Lincoln have been housed at Rayne Memorial while gutting homes through the UMCOR supported La. Disaster Recovery Ministry. “We became very close to the teams from Lincoln. They even held fundraising campaigns back in Nebraska for the rebuilding of New Orleans,” said Melissa Erekson, board member for Luke’s House and a member of Rayne Memorial UMC.

   As exploration continued, the General Board of Global Ministries sent advisor Ted Warnock to assist the group in planning. Warnock spent four months with the group, helping the board complete the foundational work on forming the clinic, exploring the issues of liability and incorporation.
Private donations and a grant for $84,000 from the Methodist Health System Foundation in Louisiana has provided a core base of funds to launch to clinic.
   Services through the clinic are available to anyone in need. The area surrounding Mt. Zion is on a major thoroughfare, so the facility is very accessible.
“’Luke's House’ is a unique development because we provide care in a comprehensive way by offering medical services, mental health counseling, and pastoral counseling. Offering all this and caring for each individual in the spirit of God's love truly makes this a healing ministry,” said Bock, who most recently was serving in a free clinic in Armenia.
   “One thing I am sure of,” said Bock, “is that we have the capacity and the resources in this country to make clinics like this one a reality. Countries like Armenia have very little. But we have so much in the United States at our fingertips.”
   Rev. Larry Norman, director of La. Volunteers in Mission, will assist with recruiting volunteer medical teams locally and nationally. “The teams will be critical in the success of the project, which will be volunteer-driven. We’ve already been in conversation with a team from Alabama, and we believe this volunteer opportunity will be very successful,” said Norman.
   The clinic, currently housed in the Family Life center of Mt. Zion UMC serves as a medical facility during the week and a sanctuary on Sunday. “Our church, badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina, is still in need of repair. So this examination area is like a M.A.S.H. unit which we take down before services, and put back up again to serve patients during the week. Once we can get appropriate funding to repair the sanctuary, this area will be devoted fully to ‘Luke’s House’,” said Thomas.

Jiselle Bock, executive director;
Dr. Susan Berry, medical director;   
Rev. Connie Thomas, pastor of Mt. Zion