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Contents1. Introduction.................................................................................................................................2

2. Background..................................................................................................................................2

3. Scope and Findings......................................................................................................................2

4. Research Methods........................................................................................................................3

4.1 Surveys.....................................................................................................................................3

4.2 Interviews.................................................................................................................................3

4.3 Secondary.................................................................................................................................4

5. Results..........................................................................................................................................4

5.1 Results of the Surveys..............................................................................................................4

5.2 Results of the Interviews.........................................................................................................6

6. Conclusion....................................................................................................................................7

7. Recommendation.........................................................................................................................7

8. Works Cited.................................................................................................................................8

9. Appendix A : Percentage of U.S Adults Without Health Insurance, by Quarter........................9

10. Appendix B : Uninsured Adults and Florida.............................................................................9

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1. Introduction

The Brevard Hispanic Center is a non-profit organization located in Brevard County whose mission is to provide charitable assistance and education to members of their community (BHC Mission). Currently, they are planning to open a free local health care clinic for individuals in the Brevard County who are unable to afford health care. The purpose of this proposal is to provide recommendations for the Brevard Hispanic Center, on ways of acquiring more volunteer medical professionals to treat patients in order to promote the development of the free health clinic.

2. Background

Because of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the number of uninsured people in the United States has fallen significantly (The New York Times). According to the Gallup Survey, the percentage of uninsured Americans over 18 years old has dropped to 12.9% nationwide during the fourth quarter of 2014, as opposed to 17.1% in the previous year (see Appendix A). However, in the Brevard County, the percentage of uninsured adults has remained approximately 21% since 2010 (County Health Rankings) (Table 1). This data shows that although the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is helping reduce the number uninsured adults nationwide, its effects are currently marginal in the Brevard County. As a result, a large number of adults remain uninsured and unable to afford proper health care. We believe that local free health clinics are one way of providing aid to uninsured individuals in our community. Local free clinics provide many benefits, including, a reduction in readmissions, and reduction in morbidity and mortality, helping to alleviates pressure on emergency departments and establishing community support and involvement. We believe that a properly funded and maintained free health clinic is not only important, but also necessary in our community.

3. Scope and Findings

This proposal focuses on analyzing the primary factors that influence or discourage medical professional from providing voluntary services; and providing recommendations based them. Using surveys and interviews, we have inquired upon medical personnel as to their opinions regarding the provision of voluntary service. Our inquiries included questions related to the following subjects:

● Personal experiences or opinions regarding voluntary services● Medical background and experience● Perceived economic and financial risks

By seeking feedback directly from our targeted audience, we have gathered data that represents their unfiltered thoughts and opinions. These questions helped us to ascertain the current zeitgeist associated with voluntary services in the medical field.

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In the following sections, we provide additional details about our research methods, the results we obtained, the conclusions we drew from those results, and our recommendation.

4. Research Methods

Our primary form of research included the use of anonymous surveys, and interviews. These methods provided us with quantifiable data regarding the thoughts and opinions of medical professionals, as it relates to voluntary work. Our secondary form of research includes the acquisition of statistical data regarding the Brevard County, free clinics and health care laws.

In the following discussion of how we performed each task, we explain the reasoning that guided our research.

4.1 Surveys

We administered our surveys in both printed and digital forms, so that we could maximize the number of respondents. We administered all our paper surveys to local hospitals. We believed that going to hospitals was the most efficient way of surveying large numbers of medical professional of varying background. We administered our digital survey by asking our liaison with the Brevard Health Center, Mrs. R. Gallop and Mrs. Martha Fiol, Marketing and Secretary of the Cancer Care Foundation Melbourne-Pine to distribute our surveys URL. Because both Mrs. R. Gallop and Mrs. Marta Fiol have access to medical professional and institutions, we believe that they were our best chance of receiving respondents.

Both our paper and digital surveys consisted of 15 questions of which only three were short answer, while the rest simple fill-ins. We also emphasized to our participants that all our questions are optional and that their responses are confidential. We believe that this approach would encourage our participants to answer our questions more truthfully.

4.2 Interviews

We conducted two interviews of medical professionals in various fields. For our first interview, we informally interviewed Dr. Ed Gula, an assistant neurosurgeon, via email. We conducted our interview this way because we were unable to get a face-to-face meeting with our respondent. Our second interview was in the form of an in class group Q&A with Mrs. Marta Fiol. Due to circumstances out of our control, we could not get an individual face-to-face meeting. However, we believe that the group interview was both informative and efficient, as it allowed us to utilize the questions of our colleagues.

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We conducted these interviews because we believed that they would augment our surveys, by providing detailed responses to our questions. We also conducted these interviews with the intention of gathering information regarding both the legal and economic concerns of medical professionals.

4.3 Secondary

This research consisted of gathering statistical, legal and economic data regarding the Brevard County, free clinics, and health care. We believe that this information would lead us to understand our problem is happening, and to provide practical solutions regarding it. This information will also enable us in a more efficient way to make well-informed inquiries of our surveys targeted audience (medical professionals).

5. Results

It is important to point out that we emphasized the results mainly in the surveys rather than the interviews. This is because more participants were present while performing the surveys, and at the same time, the surveys provide more precise and accurate data.

5.1 Results of the Surveys

The goal of the project is to provide an inclusive strategy plan for the acquisition of voluntary medical personnel for the Brevard Hispanic Center. A survey was administered to 29 people, and it was determined that the survey questions are of great significance to our participants.

The medical workers that participated in the survey have experienced ranging from 3 months, to over 30 years in the medical field. It is important to point out that this survey was not only performed on medical personnel but also professionals in the medical related field such as business administration and economics. Our participants included people such as doctors, nurses, dentists, ophthalmologists, and Patient Business Service employees.

When analyzing the data obtained, it was observed that 2 out of 29 participants have volunteered for a free health clinic (see Figure 1 below). The two who volunteered think that their experience was satisfactory to good.

A massive number of the people that answered the survey were not interested in answering the survey. Some even rejected to fill out the survey stating that they are too busy. Although many of our participants are not interested to volunteer and take part in the survey, 48% of them finally agreed to volunteer and take part in the survey.

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Figure 1 Figure 2

Our survey revealed that the main reasons preventing our participants from volunteering are issues such as busy schedules, fear due to lack of volunteering experience, financial reasons, and/or spending extra time with family away from health care.

During our survey we put the following questions to the participants. These participants are not from the medical field. The participants needs to agree or disagree for the questions asked.

Question Agree DisagreeVolunteering for a free health clinic is an important part of being involved in the community and can be used to improve their careers

82 % 18%

Welfare and affordable health care act are effective programs.

79% 21%

You do offer and provide free medical advices to their friends and acquaintance.

50% 50%

Free health clinic does not interest you 79% 21%

We asked the following questions to the people who are in the medical field. They need to Agree or Disagree for the questions. The results are tabulated below.

Question Agree DisagreeThere is a need for a free health clinic 93% 7%

You know at least one person who cannot afford medical care and would consider visiting a free clinic

82% 18%

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82% of the people surveyed from the medical field said that they know at least one person that cannot afford medical care and would consider visiting a free clinic (see Figure 3 below);

In the examples they provided, their families, friends, in-laws, and patients they emotionally care about, were included.

79% of the total surveys showed people believe that welfare and affordable health care act are effective programs. Nevertheless, it was observed that 50% of the people surveyed agreed that they offer and provide free medical advices to their friends and acquaintance. Furthermore, it was observed that none of the people surveyed are aware of the free clinic in the Brevard Hispanic Center.

5.2 Results of the Interviews

After interviewing Ed Gula and Martha Fiol, the following information was obtained:The both agreed that volunteering is an important aspect in our life, in our interview; we got main significant responses loosely summarized below:

● Doctors used volunteering effectively for society’s benefit. ● Faith and advocacy would be the main support to this great cause, knowing that the

main influence is always coming from dole and humanity. ● Volunteers are always looking for new philanthropic works on their country, or even

overseas. Locally, Brevard County needs to run a free clinic in the area since it has a large population.

● If medical professionals and fundraisings are obtained, the Brevard County would have a free health clinic..

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6. Conclusion

It can be concluded once looking at the results that the majority of the people are not willing to volunteer in a free health clinic. The main reason is their busy schedules. The previous can lead to the conclusion that even though some people want to volunteer, because they feel it is the right thing to do and they see it of a way of helping the community, they cannot do so because they do not have the time. Nevertheless, it was observed that 82% of the 29 people surveyed, have someone that would consider visiting a free health clinic. This shows that there is a need of a free clinic in the Brevard County, and as Martha Fiol stated, “the need is great”. In addition, Dr. Ed Gula stated, “since it’s much needed, the free health clinic is able to work by the doctors volunteering”.

It is alarming for the group to find out that none of the people surveyed knew that there was a free health clinic in the Brevard Hispanic Center. The center has to promote the clinic in an effective way so the information can reach different doctors; this is why the group considers that a brochure is a good approach to promote the free health clinic so the medical professionals can consider it for volunteering.

It can be concluded that in order to obtain doctors to volunteer, the free clinic has to be promoted. Dr. Ed Gula stated that “finding willing volunteers to staff one moderately sized clinic should not be difficult”, nevertheless, it was shown that not all the medical professionals are going to volunteer because of their priorities. Yet, at least a great portion of the people surveyed stated that they considered volunteering in a free health clinic. It is uncertain if they would choose the free clinic at the Brevard Hispanic Center, but if they did decide to volunteer, they could do it in many different ways such as doing general check-ups, obtaining blood samples, customer service, or even dealing with dental problems. Because a majority of our survey participants believes that volunteer is a great way of helping others and as Ed Gula said, “helping others that are sick, injured and/or unable to take care of themselves is one of the hallmarks of being in the medical profession”, it is almost guaranteed that they will perform efficiently. In general, volunteering can be a way of giving back to the community in a reliable way.

7. Recommendation

Three aspects are necessary for procuring an adequate volunteer base for the Brevard Health Center (BHC). Increasing publicity, education and advertising benefits for volunteers are three major factors that will result in a successful and sustainable clinic. Distribution of the brochure that has been provided will help maintain the clinics publicity while also educating the public about the BHC’s Free Clinic. Benefits for the doctors and medical professionals that volunteer are a facet of the organization that are not as easily achieved by simply distributing a brochure, but would not be effective alone without the combination of publicity for the clinic and education of potential volunteers.

The BHC can increase local publicity and educate its potential volunteers in multiple ways. As a non-profit organization, the clinic can make use of free advertising services that are available to all non-profit organizations. It is highly recommended that the BHC make use of

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one of these advertising services such as Google Ad Grants. As an example, Google Ad Grants gives non-profit organizations $10,000 per month to spend on advertising through their online advertising service, AdWords (Google). Multiple advertising services hand out free grants to non-profit organizations. In addition to advertising services, the brochure will increase publicity for the clinic and make more doctors aware that they can volunteer at the clinic. Another crucial aspect to increasing the level of publicity is educating the potential volunteers for the clinic about the many benefits of volunteering such as the sovereign immunity law (The Florida Senate) as well as how to volunteer. As stated previously stated, many of the medical professionals that were surveyed were not aware of the fact they are immune to legal action while volunteering, let alone mere existence of the clinic. The advertising material that is distributed should also educate doctors about the contribution to the continuing education requirements to the Florida Board of Medicine and how volunteering at the clinic can contribute to this requirement (Florida Board of Medicine). Creating publicity and educating doctors and other medical professionals about how one can volunteer at the clinic and what volunteering can do for them will build an initial base of volunteer that could then be sustained through a combination similar advertising procedures and creating a valuable experience for the individuals who volunteer.

Important considerations must be made in order to make sure the volunteers are aware of how valuable their service is to the community. Most medical professionals have an inherent desire to help people, which can simply generalize based on their profession. The rewards of volunteering can be reinforced for the professionals that volunteer at the clinic by having programs that patients can participate in to show their appreciation of the free clinic and what the volunteer doctors are doing for their community. For example, have patients write thank you notes to their doctors or hold a softball tournament that could also raise money. The experiences that doctors have with their patients have a profound effect on their outlook on volunteering which will dictate how many volunteers the clinic will get.

When an adequate base of volunteers is obtained through publicity, word will spread about the good experience that people in the medical field have had volunteering at the clinic, and this will attract further volunteers and create a sustainable influx of medical professionals to sustain the clinic for an extended period of time.

8. Works Cited

Brevard Hispanic Center. “Mission.” n.d. Brevard Hispanic Center. 21 April 2015.

County Health Rankings. Brevard. n.d. 17 April 2015.

Dunn, Lindsey. “Caring for the Uninsured.” 11 July 2013. Becker's Hospital Review. 21 April 2015.

Florida Board of Medicine . “Florida Board of Medicine .” n.d. Medical Doctor – Unrestricted. 21 April 2015.

Google. “What is Google Ad Grants?” n.d. Google Ad Grants. 21 April 2015.

The Florida Senate. “Chapter 766 Section 1115.” n.d. Florida Statutes. 21 April 2015.

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The New York Times. Is the Affordable Care Act Working? 26 October 2014. 17 April 2015.

9. Appendix A : Percentage of U.S Adults Without Health Insurance, by Quarter

Figure 1 Percentage of U.S Adults Without Health Insurance, by Quarter

10. Appendix B : Uninsured Adults and Florida

Year Uninsured Adults Florida

2010 20% 24%

2011 22% 27%

2012 20% 25%

2013 21% 25%

2014 21% 25%

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2015 20% 24%

Table 1 Uninsured Adults and Florida