Good Samaritan Health Center of Cobb

Options for serving this ministry

Opportunities for Individuals

• Interpreting/translating (primarily need individuals bilingual in English and Spanish)
• Clerical
• Prayer Room (Spanish skills are ideal, but not required) Individuals are encouraged to interact with patients in the waiting area, asking if there are prayer needs and being available as a listening ear. Prayer cards are also collected and prayed over by volunteers. At times, these cards have contact information included for the volunteer to reach out over the phone and pray with the individual.
• Medical and dental providers (we are always looking to add volunteer doctors, dentists, hygienists and other various types of providers to our volunteer schedule. Anyone with a current license to practice in their field is encouraged to contact me if interested in volunteering) Most of our providers volunteer anywhere from 1 day a week to 1 day a month.
• Medical and dental support staff (nurses, medical and dental assistants, and phlebotomy techs make up a huge part of our volunteer base. There is not way we could do what we do without this support!) Most support staff volunteers volunteer 1-3 shifts per week. A shift can either be 8:00AM-12:00PM or 1:00PM-4:00PM

Opportunities for Small Groups

• Create patient care bags to be distributed at our check out window (these typically include toiletry items and a small pocket bible in a large ziplock bag)
• Outdoor landscaping (seasonally, we will often have small groups come and bring the materials needed to update our flower beds in the front of the building and clean out weeds/replace mulch)
• Patient appreciation: we’ve had groups come set up a table in the lobby to distribute snacks and treats to the patients, we’ve had groups create encouraging scripture cards to be distributed in the pharmacy bags, we’ve had groups adopt a family for Christmas and provide gifts for the children. There is a lot of freedom in this area for creativity
• Staff appreciation: We’ve had groups cater lunch for the staff so they didn’t have to leave the site during their break, we’ve had groups collect gift cards or cards of written encouragement to distribute to staff. There is also a lot of room for creativity here as well.

NOTE: Volunteer opportunities are not limited to the above. If anyone has ideas of ways they would like to support the staff or patients of Good Sam, we’d love to discuss those ideas with you! Sometimes, the things you would never think of end up having some of the most impact. For example, we had a church donate and volunteer time and resources for us to be able to provide a patient portrait day at Christmas one year. They had a professional photographer come, set up a backdrop, brought in a Santa Clause, and had families sign up ahead of time to have pictures made with Santa at no cost to them. Patients still talk about that as such a meaningful experience!

About the ministry

Good Samaritan Health Center of Cobb

Our mission is “to spread the love of Christ by providing quality healthcare to those in need.”

Good Samaritan Health Center of Cobb , a 501(c)3 non-profit Federally Qualified Health Center, opened its doors in 2006 with a vision of providing affordable quality healthcare to those in need. The center was co-founded by Reverend Grant Cole, pastor of Connection Point Church and Dr. Jack Kennedy, Director of Cobb & Douglas Public County Health, after recognizing that medical bills and unexpected dental emergencies were the root cause of extreme financial setbacks and diminishing quality of life in the community.

Good Sam Cobb provides medical, dental and pharmacy services to the underserved, and often uninsured and below the poverty line, populations of Cobb County and the Greater Atlanta Metropolitan area. Due to the fact that Medicaid did not expand coverage in Georgia, the majority of patients are left between the gap of Medicaid coverage and the Healthcare Exchange. Many patients utilize the ER for illnesses that could otherwise be controlled by a primary care provider such as diabetes, high cholesterol, the flu, etc. Most dental patients come to the clinic needing severe restorative dental work, some of whom have never before had a dental cleaning.  For those individuals, Good Sam Cobb has the privilege of being their place of healing and encouragement.

Since its inception in 2006, Good Sam Cobb has grown from providing 4,050 to 24,686 patient visits in 2017. These visits have been expanded to include medical and dental specialists as well as laboratory and radiology services through volunteer and partner specialists. Good Sam Cobb relies heavily on volunteers to supplement and enhance services around the center. By the end of 2017, 122 volunteers have provided over 8,709 hours of volunteer service, valuing at $273,393.

CONTACT
Aime Piligian | aime.piligian@goodsamhc.org