The willingness and drive to do whatever tasks need to be done are just a few ways to describe our Vital Volunteer, Angie Tabone. Angie comes to us from Maplewood, NJ where her mother (also a Neighborhood Health Clinic volunteer) worked as a social worker and her father founded a non-profit organization for literacy, education and drama for underprivileged students in the public schools.

Angie has been volunteering in the Administration Department. She has been involved in community events, administrative duties, photography for volunteers and other important tasks. Her assistance with the Block Party was crucial to its success. Whatever project is handed to Angie, she brings energy and dedication that exceeds all expectations.

If asked why she prefers non-profit work over for-profit employment, it is apparent that she cares not only for the people… Read more…

“Keeping Up With The Joneses”:

By John Coleman

Paul Jones left Jamaica with twenty dollars in his pocket and a bicycle to live with his aunt.  Susan came from a large farm in a small town in Ohio with a population of sixty-two.

How could a better selection be made than a young farm girl in nursing school who meets her husband while he is in medical school? A few years and four children later (Stephanie, Andrew, Nathan and Juno), they continue to work together as a volunteer nurse and physician at the Neighborhood Health Clinic.

Paul and Susan moved to Naples in 1990.  Paul was a founder of Anchor Health Centers, serving as its President until 2002.  He is a past Chairman of the Department of Family Medicine at the Naples Community Hospital, President-elect… Read more…

Pat Doverspike has been a “vital volunteer” for many years.  Before she arrived at the Neighborhood Health Clinic, she proudly spent fourteen years with the Girl Scouts and served on church councils wherever she lived.  At the Neighborhood Health Clinic, Pat is a volunteer for all tasks and seasons.  You may find her making coffee in the Cafe, washing lab coats, filing in the front office, helping in the pharmacy and pitching in wherever there is a need.  When she isn’t volunteering, her hobbies include traveling, embroidering and reading.  The “loves of her life” are her six grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

Her tremendous work ethic finds its roots in Brookville, a small town in northwestern Pennsylvania.  After losing her husband at a relatively early age from a rare malignancy, she raised three daughters and… Read more…

Pat Head comes to the Neighborhood Health Clinic every Tuesday and Friday morning. She is responsible for including specific medical information into the patients’ charts, including noting medications, lab results, x-rays, ultra sound results, MRIS and mammograms. Pat’s responsibilities are a vital part of the process of keeping each patient’s file accurate, complete and up-to-date. She works on as many as 60 to 75 charts a visit

“A friend, who volunteers here, introduced me to the Clinic. I am so grateful for the access to healthcare that is available to me. I wanted to help out people who don’t have healthcare insurance.”

Pat came to Naples from North Carolina 42 years ago. She raised three sons and is now a grandmother. She looks forward to the time she spends with her family. She also enjoys… Read more…

Eileen Iaizzo volunteers as the Neighborhood Health Clinic’s Volunteer Coordinator. When someone comes to inquire about doing volunteer work at the Clinic, she scopes out the service possibilities available. Eileen is in her office every Tuesday and Friday from 9:30 am to 2:30 pm. Any of the 700 volunteers now involved in the Clinic’s operations can testify to her enthusiasm for what-goes-on at the Clinic.

In 1995, she and her husband moved to Naples from New York City. Shortly after moving, Eileen started looking for interesting ways to fill her day. Eventually her search lead to the Neighborhood Health Clinic.

“When I started volunteering at the Clinic in 2001, they were located in a storefront at the former Grand Central Station, still getting organized operationally and financially. I helped out in the medication room,” recalls… Read more…

October is a month dedicated to the remembrance of those who were lost, those still fighting and those who survived breast cancer. Since 2004, the Neighborhood Health Clinic has been a recipient of a Susan G. Komen grant through the Southwest Florida Affiliate which allows the Clinic to provide life-saving breast health services for their patients.

Nancy Boyer, Barbara Heimann, JoAnn Robinson, and Lucy Valentine, volunteer at the Clinic as breast health educators. During each clinic session, one of these vital volunteers will review the charts and identify the patients who are due for their mammograms. Then team members show patients the multilingual video produced by the Clinic titled “Self Breast Examination, a Tutorial That Could Save Your Life!” By utilizing this DVD, the Clinic has seen a substantial increase in the number of… Read more…

Dr. Falkinburg wears many hats: he’s an avid reader, golfer, a brought-out-of-full retirement Nephrologist, and, to the delight of many, an accomplished ventriloquist.

Like many other “Vital Volunteers” at the Clinic, Dr. Falkinburg charted a traditional path in medicine before he and the Neighborhood Health Clinic crossed paths. Originally from Rhode Island and schooled in New York & California, he was part of a busy practice in Roanoke, VA for the majority of his career. Even in retirement, he assisted his colleagues on weekends, flying back to Roanoke to cover weekends & holidays. He subsequently assumed a locum tenens role (literally, a doctor’s “placeholder”), when he assisted other physicians. Tiring of a hotel/motel existence there, he retired anew to the Audubon community in Naples, turning his attention to golf, reading novels, and, in 2005, a… Read more…

About three years ago, Dr. George Ferguson told Sheila and John about the Neighborhood Health Clinic.   The fact that the Clinic offers health care to the working poor of Naples ignited their interest.

The Colemans’ raised their family in Winnetka IL and then moved to downtown Chicago.  John’s retirement from forty-three years as a trial lawyer led them to Naples.  Before too long both the Colemans were looking for volunteer opportunities where they could be of service.  After they had a tour of the Neighborhood Health Clinic, filled out volunteer forms and talked with Eileen Iaizzo, the Volunteer Coordinator, they became one of the couples who regularly volunteer to help out at the Clinic.

Every week Sheila comes in to do clerical work — whatever is needed from filing to checking files to computer input… Read more…

Lisette Wynn, Volunteer Dental Clinic Coordinator, recently answered these questions about why she loves volunteering at the Neighborhood Health Clinic:

Q: Tell me how you first got involved with the Neighborhood Health Clinic.

A: In March 2009, I started coordinating the Dental Clinic. I’d retired from oral surgery assisting about 1 year prior to that and I didn’t want all my training and education to go to waste. I prayed about it, and Neighborhood Health Clinic filled those prayers.

Q: What has surprised you most about volunteering at the Clinic?

A: What surprises AND pleases me most about the Clinic is how well we all function together towards a common goal: excellent patient care.

Q: Tell me about some of the people you have meet while volunteering at the… Read more…

Deborah Piccaluga, an Emergency Room nurse at Health Park, has been volunteering at the Neighborhood Health Clinic at least once a month for 2 years.

“Working in the ER I see so many patients who don’t seem to care about their health.  It is different at the Clinic.  The patients here don’t take anything for granted.  They take an active role in their health,” said Ms. Piccaluga.

Ms. Piccaluga was born in Europe and moved to Naples when she was in high school.  Her first job in the “medical” field was working after school at the Glenview.  Then she went to college and received her degree in Business Administration.  After graduation she moved to New York City but it wasn’t long before she realized she wanted a career in medicine. “It was all those memories… Read more…

by Count Darling

Each Monday and Thursday physicians, nurses and other volunteers convene for “Clinic Night”.  After a long day in their offices, 30 or so dedicated physicians and nurses come together to provide care and treatment pro bono for those low-income working adults who have no medical insurance.

Bonnie Yarrington is the Monday night kitchen volunteer, keeping the food hot, serving drinks and cleaning up.  Meals are usually donated by an organization, church, or local restaurant.  But sometimes she does the cooking herself.  It is thanks to Mrs. Yarrington that the Moorings Park kitchen caters a meal once a month.  We have an additional need for meals during the summer when some of our cooking groups are away.

Supper is served in the small kitchen where all of the volunteers gather around for food… Read more…

Karen Eastman, RDLDN, provides nutrition counseling services for diabetes management, cardiovascular disease, and weight management.  She also volunteers to lead sessions on proper food choices, “portion distortion” and reading nutrition labels at the Neighborhood Health Clinic’s Healthy Lifestyles Program. The class also covers the harm that can be done to the body by eating “junk” or “fast food” and concludes with a cooking demonstration.

Mrs. Eastman was one of the first volunteers with the Neighborhood Health Clinic.  She was influential in helping Dr. William and Nancy Lascheid recruit physicians.  As a matter of fact, she encouraged Dr. Tober, the Clinic’s Medical Director, to volunteer.

When the Clinic initiated the Healthy Lifestyles program, she saw an opportunity to connect with the patients and envisioned the potential of breaking the cycle of obesity in families.   Each patient… Read more…

Dr. Herman Spilker began his career as a cardiologist in Naples over 25 years ago and is 1 of the 13 physicians on staff at the Naples Heart Institute.  He specializes in the long-term care of chronic cardiac conditions and the initial diagnosis of heart disease and hypertension.

Dr. Spilker began volunteering at the Neighborhood Health Clinic over 2 ½ years ago to provide these special services to patients who otherwise could not afford it.  He believes that because the low-income working but uninsured patients at the Clinic can receive quality care and affordable medications to treat existing cardiac problems, they can be more productive in their daily lives and avoid seeking treatment from hospital emergency rooms.

There is no history of heart disease in Dr. Spilker’s family, but to stay heart healthy he doesn’t… Read more…

“This is MY Clinic. Dr. Bill and Nancy Lascheid may have founded the Neighborhood Health Clinic,” says Paula Tews, volunteer laboratory technologist, but she believes in her heart that this is her Clinic.

Paula retired in 1996 and began volunteering at several local charities. It was not until three years ago when she began volunteering at the Clinic that she felt like she was “home”. Her friend, Nancy Thompson, who also volunteers at the Clinic, introduced her to the organization. Reflecting on her first day, she comments, “It was a Monday night clinic session and I jumped in with both feet.” She continues to volunteer every Monday and has decorated her space in the laboratory with some pictures of things near and dear to her. Those pictures include a photo of her grandson and… Read more…

By Shirli Kaskie

Anneliese is a retired medical technologist. Since 2007, she has worked in the Patient Assistance Program (PAP).  Almost 45 U.S. companies contribute needed medications to the Clinic.

After a medication room volunteer checks a prescription for content of the medication, Anneliese takes the files and lists all the prescriptions being ordered for the medical supervisor to check.  Once it has been determined whether the medication is new or a refill, Anneliese is in charge of communicating the Clinic’s medication needs to the drug companies.  Even though most medications are donated through PAP, the Clinic purchases about 20% of the medications dispensed to patients which are funded through monetary donations.

In 2010, over 2000 patients were treated at the Neighborhood Health Clinic and made over 7000 patient visits, worth more than 5 million… Read more…

Cris Ryker started out volunteering at the Neighborhood Health Clinic when a friend, Nancy Ginocchio, suggested she could do what she loved for a good cause. Mrs. Ginocchio suggested she prepare a meal for the volunteers at the Neighborhood Health Clinic. That was five years ago.

Now Mrs. Ryker is a fixture at the Neighborhood Health Clinic. She volunteers on a regular basis as a translator during clinic sessions. She also took on the role of Grand Prize Drawing Chair for the 2011 Block Party coordinating record number of ticket sales. “This year I am committed to seeing all 500 tickets sold,” says Mrs. Ryker.

Mrs. Ryker has been known to invite her friends over to home for “the most expensive chili dinner you’ll ever eat”. For a donation to the Neighborhood Health Clinic… Read more…

Sandra Peterson handles all the action at the Neighborhood Health Clinic’s front desk on Tuesdays and Fridays. She coolly answers the 25 to 30 phone calls that come in, greets visitors and patients with a smile and follows through on all of the volunteer application procedures and time charts. “Actually, I do many little jobs,” she says, “There’s always something happening that keeps me busy from the 9:30 to 4 that I’m here.”

Keeping track of the hours that doctors, nurses, and non-medical personnel contribute to the Clinic’s operation is vital to its funding. Sandra is the one who reminds us all, “… don’t forget to put your hours in the book.”

In 1986, the Petersons retired from Connecticut to Pelican Bay in Naples. It wasn’t long before Sandra felt she had too much time… Read more…