Community volunteer highlight: Molly McGuire
Twenty-seven years in the medical equipment field gave Molly McGuire more than enough material to work with as a Project Access NOW community volunteer. Having worked in medical products manufacturing and distribution, “I know the ins and outs of the medical world.”
With a bachelor’s in business, Molly decided to get a second degree in Spanish. Afterward, she spent two years marketing a diabetes product line. One of her projects entailed developing a program for uninsured Latinos to get diabetic care equipment.
It was at that time that Molly heard from a friend about the then-launching Project Access NOW. Soon after, in October 2008, she signed up as a community volunteer, working up to 20 hours a week while juggling her other commitments (she teaches Spanish to grade school kids and helps a local greeting-card company with sales).
Molly’s main focus is phone surveys of patients: she developed the program, wrote the script, and created a Spanish-language version as well. The initial, or entry, phone survey evaluates every patient’s overall healthcare experience, particularly access to care. Six months later, patients go through the exit survey, which asks the same questions following care as well as feedback on Project Access NOW.
“We started doing surveys in May 2009,” Molly said. “We ask people how easy it was to go get an appointment, how well they could understand the doctor, and so on. Now we’re looking at other languages, particularly Russian and Mandarin Chinese.”
Every new Project Access NOW community volunteer does phone surveys for a while. According to Molly, “This way every volunteer learns to appreciate the people we serve.”
Molly’s experience with volunteering leaves little to be desired. “I feel good about it. It’s very rewarding to be really contributing to something that helps people. It’s exciting to be involved in an effort like this one at a time that it’s such a huge part of public discourse. I encourage everybody to take a look at volunteering here, or contributing otherwise.”
(April 2010)
