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It has been a year since the Volunteer Health Corps of Baton Rouge came together, but co-founder Michael Rolfsen says what’s happened since then has been nothing short of amazing.

“It has been like a snowball rolling down hill ever since its inception,” says Rolfsen, an internal medical physician at the Baton Rouge Clinic. “Once people hear about it, it sells itself, and we have had volunteers from all areas come and help out.”

The medical community has “demonstrated an incredible spirit of generosity for the uninsured of our community, and the various political and business factions that typically can destroy such an undertaking have disappeared,” he says.

“Our community should be proud,” Rolfsen says.

From 6 to 8 p.m. each Tuesday at the LSU Mid City Clinic on North Foster Drive, a group of volunteer doctors, nurses, mental health professionals, counselors, pre-med students, clerical workers and a social worker come together to help people who can’t afford health insurance.

While last year’s recruiting efforts proved successful—what started with a handful of volunteers has grown to more than 100—Executive Director Michele Broome says even more are needed to help meet patient needs.

The program currently draws volunteers from Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, Baton Rouge General, Ochsner Medical Center, Earl K. Long Medical Center and as far away as Hammond. Broome says the program has a great word of mouth, with new volunteers typically bringing more recruits when they return and leading to the campaign slogan, “It’s Contagious.”

The story of how the corps came together goes back to an even more urgent time, Broome says. Shortly after Hurricane Katrina deluged New Orleans, Rolfsen saw how the storm worsened an already growing problem with the uninsured needing medical care and filling emergency rooms for routine problems because they couldn’t afford a doctor.

To address the problem, which now averages one of every six Louisianans not having health insurance, Rolfsen talked with fellow doctors about how to shorten long ER lines. Their solution was the Volunteer Health Corps.

“We see ourselves as a bridge for these patients until they can get their primary care,” which typically last four to six months, says Broome. “Otherwise, they became a chronic and returned to ERs, using the ER as their regular doctor, creating a backlog of patients and holding up critical care for legitimate emergencies. It’s an issue we see in all the ERs.”

Corps volunteers only see patients who have been referred by the Earl K. Long Medical Center emergency room. The group formed a partnership with Earl K. Long and LSU Health Care Sciences, Broome says. The organizations provide the clinic space, and the volunteers who staff it are credentialed through their system to be covered by state liability coverage.

To help address a growing patient waiting list, a second clinic will open later this summer. Broome says the move will nearly triple the 22 patients they see each week. The second clinic will be open on the same night at the same time at the same location.

They’ve also recruited gastroenterologists as volunteers to help with a long waiting list for colonoscopies, which will be done every Monday at the new LSU Health System Surgical Facility. They hope to expand still into areas of care such as orthopedics and rheumatology by recruiting doctors in these areas.

For Broome, her work has validated how extensive the need is for the uninsured.

“When you meet with these patients, you just want to do what you can for them,” she says. “They are just so needy and they don’t know to ask for help and don’t know where to go for help.”

While some patients don’t have medical care, some don’t have housing, either. A social worker has volunteered to help guide these people to resources on nonmedical issues like prescription assistance, housing or getting food.

“Many of the patients are in worse condition because they can’t get preventive care,” she says. “Many of these patients don’t have the money for prescriptions. Three weeks ago, we had a woman in congestive heart failure. She pulled out five prescriptions that could have dealt with it, but she said she lacked the money to get the drugs, which lead to heart failure.”