Nurse practitioner joins Compassionate Care staff

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SIDNEY — Compassionate Care of Shelby County is a faith-based healthcare center with a mission to respectfully provide quality care and hope to the uninsured and underserved of Shelby County. Since opening in 2007, Compassionate Care has provided care for more than 18,000 individuals from throughout the county.

Match Day gifts given on behalf of Compassionate Care will help offset the cost of the nurse practitioners who continue to provide quality and consistent care to patients.

“The patient load at Compassionate Care is at an all-time high and expected to rise even more in 2019,” said Executive Director Traci Milanese. “As the need for medical and dental care continues upward, it will require us to increase nurse practitioner hours to accommodate patient needs.”

Compassionate Care initially relied on volunteer medical staff to provide primary care to uninsured patients. “We’d love to rely on volunteer physicians and nurse practitioners, but unfortunately the need in the community surpasses the number of providers available. Between Medicaid expansion and the shortage of primary care physicians nationwide, volunteer time for providers just isn’t there, so we opted to hire a paid nurse practitioner.”

“In June, CCSC added to our staff a second paid nurse practitioner to fulfill patient needs,” said Milanese. “As a result, the additional nurse practitioner hours has increased the number of available appointments and has decreased the waiting time for patients who are seeking care. While this has been a great help, the need continues to grow.”

The facility, located at 124 N. Ohio Ave. in Sidney, provides free medical and dental care including diagnosing acute conditions, chronic pain management, conducting preventative screenings, as well as extraction, repair, and dental hygienists services for scheduled check-ups and teeth cleanings. They also assist patients with prescription medications by enrolling them in their Prescription Assistance Program (PAP). Volunteers and staff help to fill medications in an on-site medication room.

To support Compassionate Care of Shelby County on Match Day, gifts must be made payable to the Community Foundation of Shelby County with: Match/Compassionate Care noted on the memo or in an accompanying note or form. Details and forms are available at the Community Foundation website at www.commfoun.com and at Compassionate Care. Gifts must be received on or before Nov. 27 to be eligible for up to $5,000 in matching money.

Nurse Practitioner Stacey Robinson attends to a patient recently at Compassionate Care of Shelby County. Match Day gifts make such appointments possible.
https://www.sidneydailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/47/2018/11/web1_Compassionate-Care-photo-copy.jpegNurse Practitioner Stacey Robinson attends to a patient recently at Compassionate Care of Shelby County. Match Day gifts make such appointments possible. Courtesy photo

What is Match Day?

The Community Foundation of Shelby County is repeating its Match Day event. On Nov. 27, the foundation will offer a total of $70,000 to 14 local charities that can each receive a dollar-for-dollar match of up to $5,000. The goal is to generate at least $140,000 in charitable dollars.

Participating organizations challenge their supporters to give to the Community Foundation and to earmark gifts for their charity. Gifts must be made payable to the Community Foundation of Shelby County and received by Nov. 27 to be eligible for the match.

The local foundation administers more than 180 charitable funds, including scholarship, donor advised, designated, organization and community granting funds. Match Day participating organizations were selected because of having a 501(c)(3) tax status and an organization fund within the foundation that had an asset balance exceeding the Foundation’s fund minimum. Gifts received will not be placed into an organization’s fund, but instead returned to the organization and put to work in the community.

Participating organizations are Alpha Community Center, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Shelby and Darke County, Compassionate Care of Shelby County, Historic Sidney Theatre, Operation Rebirth, S&H Products, Senior Center of Sidney-Shelby County, Shelby County Arc, Shelby County Historical Society, Shelby County Libraries Foundation, Shelby County United Way, Sidney First United Methodist Church, Sidney-Shelby County YMCA and Wilma Valentine Childcare.

For details, go to www.commfoun.com and view Match Day information on the home page.

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