Inside the Clinic: Love in Every Language Edition

Good afternoon, dearest community!

Yesterday was a day we all know to be a celebration of love and I sure hope you had many opportunities to give and receive expressions of love, even if Cupid was confounded somewhat by COVID-19 this year.

It is fun looking at how this day is celebrated all around the world – sometimes on different days or spanning several days even! Many of our patients come from Guatemala and celebrate Día del Cariño (Day of Affection) on February 14th by exchanging flowers, chocolates, and cards (sound familiar?). Guatemalans widen the reach of gift-giving to include their friends and colleagues as well as their sweethearts, making the day more inclusive. In other countries where some of our patients have roots, including Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Ecuador and Colombia, the holiday is similarly known as Día del Amor y la Amistad, which means “the Day of Love and Friendship,” and is also viewed as a time to show love and affection to your friends and family members, as well as your romantic partners.

Many of our neighbors and patients in Bailey’s Crossroads/Culmore felt that inclusive kind of love yesterday, thanks to one of our founding and committed faith partners, St. Katherine Greek Orthodox Church. Within the Greek Orthodox Church there is a women’s society called Philoptochos which, among other things, seeks to identify ways to show generosity and kindness to folks in need within the community.

Daphne Papamichael of St. Katherine’s, who is on our Board, chairs the Development Committee, and was a stellar logistics volunteer over the pandemic months last year, spent her Valentine’s Day (and many days before) with her Philoptochos sisters, preparing 100 bins filled with pantry items, produce, dental hygiene products and grocery gift cards for distribution to our neighbors . Truly an act of love and friendship!

Of course, the very concept of Valentine’s Day may have originated with the ancient Greeks (check out this article for one perspective on that!); but even though some may disagree (if they dare!), the word philanthropy or “love of humankind” most definitely does.

Some think philanthropy is only about financial support to others, but it really embraces a much broader mindset. Certainly, I see philanthropy at work every day at Culmore Clinic through all of you who work with us – employed or volunteering - to ensure struggling neighbors can access primary healthcare and can communicate easily with their providers, counselors, and nurses. I also see it “behind the scenes” among our Board Directors who make multi-year commitments to help us remain a strong, accountable nonprofit; among our Goodwin House supporters who will lick countless mailing envelopes because, yikes, we forgot to order the self-adhesive kind!; and among students at college who find a few hours a week to cover the patient phone line or upload documents into our Electronic Medical Record system (rather than catch a few hours’ extra kip!). That is love indeed.

Did you know we had 25 new volunteers join us in 2020? And this year we have already welcomed three new volunteer staff: Cayla Coton, a certified medical assistant; Max Kaye, a Georgetown student working the front desk once a week; and Gail Lerch, a new and well-experienced RN and HR professional within the healthcare industry. We also welcomed a new Ignatian Volunteer Corps member, Rose McGruddy who will help with patient registration. Welcome, all!

Whatever your definition of philanthropy, here’s to all of you and to your love-for-all spirit that puts the "mighty" in the work of our small Clinic!

Me thermoús chairetismoús,

Anne-Lise