While many of us feel an information overload from the media, social networks, and government with COVID-19 updates, a section of our population remains in the dark. For Atlantans experiencing unsheltered homelessness, many do not have internet access and lack crucial resources and sometimes basic awareness of the current pandemic. And for those who are…
Among financial uncertainties and prolonged time shut-in at home, the need for mental health check-ups may be greater than ever. Mercy Care is using phone and virtual visits to continue to help behavioral health patients. Over the phone or computer, patients can keep their appointments – at a safe distance. “Giving our patients some options…
Caught in the gap between working part-time and not being able to afford private insurance on her own, Tammy Franklin Wideman has found a true medical home in every sense of the word at Mercy Care. “They are a lifesaver for so many of us in this predicament,” Tammy says. “They treat you like a…
Roy Martin walked miles home from the emergency room, his throat cut earlier that night in an altercation on the street that he miraculously survived. But the home he was returning to had no heat, water or electricity. This was the house he grew up in, his siblings no longer around. Not every night was…
Jim Kotaska holds up the vibrant, vintage fabrics of his youth — the very same fabric that his mother used to sew her maternity clothes, his father’s leisurewear, and his sisters’ blouses while growing up in North Dakota. Now some forty years later, the fabrics have found a new home. Carefully stitched together into six…
On Jan. 6, 2020, Dr. Jane Gerety, RSM, will fill the role of chief mission officer for Saint Joseph’s Health System and Mercy Care, reporting to CEO Tom Andrews. In March 2019, Sister Angela Ebberwein, RSM, retired as vice president of mission after 26 years of service and graciously continued to lead the mission activities…
Dr. James Stewart spent his first year at Mercy Care doing what optometrists do — examining eyes and looking for abnormalities — while also hoping to secure grant money to purchase an OCT machine. An optical coherent tomographer (OCT) works like a CAT scan for your eyes; showing frame by frame the microscopic ‘slices’ of…
Ryan White: Then and Now HIV services at Mercy Care are funded by the Ryan White program. But who was Ryan White, and where did it all start? In 1984, when he was just 13 years old, Ryan White was diagnosed with AIDS. As the American HIV epidemic first caught national attention in the early…
Dermatology clinic and Street Medicine recognized in Milan, Italy and Dallas, Texas. The World Congress of Dermatology in Milan Mark Holzberg, M.D., Mercy Care volunteer physician and founder of Avail Dermatology in Newnan, Georgia, was honored with the International Award for Social Responsibility in Dermatology in North America and a €20,000 ($22,457.20) grant. When the…
Clinic rotation brings one volunteer full circle. Mercy Care parts this week with our long-standing volunteer, Miller Douglas. Miller, now a student at Emory University School of Medicine, reflects on his myriad of experiences while volunteering over the past six years: “From the front desk to behind a desk, through HR and now on the…
