VIM Sambas Its Way Into Its Care Works Impact Campaign

“We fix broken bones and treat cancer; we fix teeth and eyesight. We arrange for mammograms, conduct Pap tests, and facilitate births. We reunite parents and children separated at the border. We manage chronoic illness and respond to trauma and domestic violence. We drive patients to appointments in the Berkshires and as far away as Boston. We treat patients in many languages, including Dar, English, French, Haitian, Creole, Malay, Mandarin, Nepali, Pashto, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Ukrainian. Every year, we welcome dozens of children to our country and register them for school. We send hundreds of our patients’ children to summer camp so their parents can work. This is what we accomplish with our patient-centered model.”

VIM — Volunteers in Medicine Berkshires — has a heart as big as the number of people it provides free, comprehensive health care to. Every year, VIM, headquartered in Great Barrington, treats more than 1,300 patients, works with 170 volunteers who donate 10,000 hours of their time; collaborate with more than 20 agencies across the region…and the numbers go on. On Thursday, June 22, VIM volunteers, supporters, and staff celebrated its successes at Balderdash Cellars in Richmond, Massachusetts with a fiesta. Executive Director Illana Steinhauer related a few heart-rending — but uplifting — stories about patients (many of them immigrants) who have found their way to VIM for medical, dental and behavior health care. She also spoke about Care Works, VIM’s $20 million campaign that will allow the organization to open a new care center in Pittsfield, complete renovations to the Great Barrington Care Center, and sustain its work for years to come. Following the remarks, a dance party ensued, with Luana Dias David, a samba dancer in fantastical Brazilian garb, encouraged the partiers to do some moves of their own.