Community volunteer highlight: Ryan Kartheiser
Ryan Kartheiser’s volunteer spirit and interest in health care surfaced several years ago when, as a student at Grinnell College, he volunteered at a free clinic, helping patients apply for medication assistance. After graduation, Ryan, who is fluent in Chinese, and his girlfriend spent a year teaching English in Nanjing, China. Back in the states, they settled in Portland and Ryan found a job as a research assistant in the neurology department at OHSU.
It was there that Ryan first learned of Project Access NOW. Executive director Linda Nilsen-Solares had been invited to speak on health issues during one of OHSU’s lunch programs. Ryan was impressed and intrigued by what he heard and decided to apply to volunteer with Project Access NOW. Since March of this year, Ryan has consistently dedicated an entire afternoon each week to help out. He has become intimately familiar with the Clara database, initiating new client records, arranging appointments, and various other care coordination activities.
Seeing that dedicated people like those who work and volunteer with Project Access NOW can have a “real impact” is what has made the biggest impression on Ryan. And he aspires to make an impact himself as he awaits word on his application to medical school.
If he could “fast-forward” to the future, Ryan would love to be right here in Oregon after his medical training, serving patients as a primary care physician. He hopes that the need to provide care for the uninsured will be all but gone by that time. But, if that need still exists, he will gladly volunteer his services.
In the meantime, Project Access NOW is fortunate and grateful to have so many committed and dedicated volunteers like Ryan helping to serve the needs of the most vulnerable of our community.
