Wanted: Doctors

Lutheran, The, Nov 2002 by Etshman, Todd

Congregation brings free clinic to deteriorating, underserved neighborhood

The East Buffalo, MY, neighborhood in which Wayne Solomon grew up is far different from the one he lives in today. Yet, it's the same neighborhood.

When Solomon, 32, was young, the area had hope and vibrant community establishments. People had jobs with benefits; homeowners had pride in their homes. Banks, bakeries, doctors, churches, libraries and stores dotted the area known as Genesee Moselle. But as the years passed, the community took a turn for the worse.

"Almost everything that was here then is gone now and hasn't come back," Solomon says.

One by one, businesses shut their doors and left. The middle class moved out. Homes and buildings were abandoned. Crime crept in. Drugs and prostitution took the place of reputable businesses. Even established churches that represented the last bastion of hope in the community gave up and left.

But the church Solomon attended as a boy, where he played basketball and went to summer programs, remained. Today the efforts of Resurrection Lutheran Church and its former pastor, Charles Biegner Jr., now retired, represent what may be the blighted neighborhood's greatest source of hope and renewal.

A SWIRL OF ACTIVITY

Resurrection's facilities are in constant use by programs designed to help residents. Head Start classes and summer-day-camps are full. Family counseling, tutoring and addiction therapy groups spread out around the 1911 building. Across the street are two new homes the church built with Habitat For Humanity.

"It's amazing how many people here need this church for different things," says Solomon's wife, Dawn.

Despite crime in the area, Biegner says vandals don't touch the church's facilities. Residents respect and value the church.

"Thank God for the church," says Stephanie Rogers, 38, a teacher at summer Bible school. "It's the one thing that hasn't changed."

For Resurrection's 90th anniversary in 2001, Biegner asked the congregation to forego church improvements and instead help in what may be his most challenging project of all: establishing a free medical clinic in this underserved area, where there is approximately one doctor for every 3,500 residents.

"Paying for medical insurance out-of-pocket without a full-time job leaves a lot of people in this area uncovered," Rogers says. "Because of [government] reforms, people here don't have the welfare and Medicaid benefits that they used to have."

Biegner found the site he needed next to the church-- an old library bought from the city for $25,000 using funds from parishioners. Room dividers, exam tables and a computer arrived with the help of grants and additional donations. Inmates from a local correctional facility renovated much of the interior.

When a link to the University of Buffalo Medical School was established, the Charles Biegner Jr. Medical Clinic opened its doors to the public. Volunteer medical students staff the clinic, supervised by Chester Fox, a physician and teacher at the medical school.

BUSINESS IS GOOD, REALLY GOOD

As the only free medical clinic on the city's east side, an abundance of patients soon arrived with a variety of needs and medical conditions. More serious conditions are referred elsewhere for now, but as second-year intern Elizabeth Honigsberg says, "At least we can try to offset some of the things that ruin their health. We have regulars here, people who rely on us for life-threatening situations." She says the neighborhood's predominately African American population is at risk for chronic diseases, such as diabetes and hypertension, that can be fatal without proper treatment.

Many visit the clinic for work and school physicals. "If your school or work doesn't pay for it, it's a great benefit," Rogers says. On a busy August day, youth football players form a line that winds around the building's interior.

Nurse practitioner Patricia Dyer says she's wanted to work in just such a clinic since moving to Buffalo last year. "This is an exciting place to be," she says. "I know there are nurse-run clinics in New York and Philadelphia, and it's certainly something that needs to be done here too."

BUT THEY NEED DOCTORS

But expanding the clinic's medical services will require more licensed doctors. "We're looking for doctors who would be willing to do urban missionary work," Biegner says.

Fox adds, "This is just the first stage of what we want to have here. Unfortunately, you just don't get private doctors practicing in poor areas." He laments that there is precious little care available to the 44 million Americans without health insurance.

Biegner admits it would be hard for the church to pay a full-time physician's salary despite parishioners' support for the clinic and other projects. But Dyer is impressed that Biegner and the congregation don't flinch at obstacles.

As word of the clinic spreads, Biegner hopes the relatively large Lutheran community in Buffalo will consider using and paying for their own health-care needs at the clinic so others can get their care for free.