DorlandHealth

The ongoing series called A Passion for Practice continues with a look at a community clinic in Arkansas

An unfortunate circumstance is all too common across America today. Single working parents whose employers do not provide health insurance are struggling to get by and routinely must choose between food, school supplies and taking care of their own health. According to the latest U.S. Census report, more than 47 million families are in this position. For those who live in the South Midtown Little Rock, Ark., area, there is hope. Specifically, there is Shepherd’s Hope Neighborhood Health Clinic, a community clinic developed by a small group of physicians and nurses who, in helping with various volunteer projects like helping renovate schools and helping working moms with yard work and home repair, had the idea that a health clinic also was needed. They reached out to two churches — Oak Forrest Methodist and the Fellowship Bible Church Little Rock, and began a community project.

VOLUNTEERISM AND CONTRIBUTIONS

Oak Forrest Methodist, located in South Midtown, had a small, vacant run-down house. Bulldozing the house and
building a new structure was considered, however the group decided the structure could be renovated to house the clinic. Members from the Fellowship Bible Church, a suburban place of worship, met with members from Oak Forrest Methodist and together created a plan to develop the clinic.

Using group time to build and strengthen teams

Necessary evil. Time vacuum. Serial productivity killer.

Negative feelings about meetings are common for many reasons. Most of us spend too much time sitting in too many of them, feeling the pull of tasks, email and voicemail piling up while nothing meaningful transpires. From the weekly department gathering to the annual corporate offsite, the critiques are remarkably similar.

Generally speaking, I’m in the less-is-more camp. But given that meetings are and will remain part of our corporate identity, how can we make them matter more?

The most effective meetings serve two purposes. Making progress toward satisfying clearly articulated objectives is the more obvious, but sadly often-unachieved purpose.

On a higher level, however, effective meetings, held for almost any reason, can serve another powerful role: team building. Done right, meetings — especially those regularly scheduled — can make your workgroup, division or company
a better functional unit. There becomes a multiplying effect, making each subsequent gathering better than the last, with benefits to individuals extending far beyond the walls of the conference room.