Marie Ghazal | Rhode Island Free Clinic CEO
Passion and compassion for others drive work at our free clinic. It’s important to build a strong and sustainable organization. When I started in 2010, I was deeply moved by patients’ tremendous need. There were so many patients, we held a monthly lottery (more than 100 people each time) to pick names for who could receive care. It was heartbreaking to see people turned away. We needed to provide access to the best-quality, most-dignified care possible.
How did I turn that around? I kept these three ideas in mind:
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Vision – We stayed focused on the vision – the people – to improve the lives of others. It’s always been about helping others and taking morally and ethically right actions. We ended the lottery and expanded services to help people get well.
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Perseverance – The clinic’s work is very hard. You can’t give up, you must always do the best you can, and give 100 percent. I live this and expect the same of others. Despite setbacks, we focused on the positive and expanded primary care, added new services, applied for (and received) grants, developed partnerships and in October 2018 opened a desperately needed dental program.
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People – Board, staff, volunteers, donors, partners – all believe that everyone deserves quality health care and share our passion to help others. I’ve learned to invest time and energy to work with great people to learn from, grow with, and work hard together, drawing strength from each other’s talents and diversity.