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by Sister Alodia Carney, OLVM
 “ASK and you shall receive. SEEK and you shall find. KNOCK and the door shall be opened to you.” Matt. 7:7
Photo: Sr. Alodia Carney OLVM.
My weekly afternoon of service at ASK Clinic is Thursday. A particular Thursday each spring will always be Holy Thursday. It was on this day I registered a young man from Ethiopia for medical attention. His slightly older friend gave the necessary information in hesitant English. “Will be long wait? I am Lutheran minister. I must lead church service this evening.” A surprise for me! But why shouldn’t that thin faced man with large dark eyes and worn out shoes be a minister?
My role as “intake” worker is to greet new clients and fill a chart with their necessary data. Predictably, clients will lower their eyes, shift in their chair, grin nervously at the question, “Do you smoke?” But on we go with the battery of questions. I lighten up a bit, for example, with people from Mexico, when I assure them I have visited Guadalajara, Monterrey, Mexico City and the Basilica of Guadalupe.
Photo: Sr. Alodia, standing, calling a client to begin the intake process.
With Lucinda, a client from Ghana, I tell her I am acquainted already with a person from Ghana. “Oh yes?” “Yes. Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations. Yes, I’m acquainted with him through television.” We both laugh.
A Vietnamese elder in a long black dress sits patiently in the waiting room. Instinctively I fold my hands together and bow as I greet her. She is already bowing to me.
Photo: Sr. Alodia, right, says the data collecting process is also an opportunity to extend hospitality.
 Anastasia is a pretty woman from Honduras. I learn that she was an elementary school teacher there. She waited ten years to receive a visa to enter the USA. During those years her health deteriorated. Unfortunately she is now quite poor. I assisted translating for her to the nurse practitioner.
Men and women who have lost their jobs through closing and downsizing of industry in Ft. Wayne come to ASK Clinic for health care. It is often their first experience in a free clinic for the uninsured.
The Clinic office, the examination rooms, the downstairs dispensary all buzz with action during Clinic hours. Receptionists, nurse aides, nurses, doctors, dispensary personnel all strive to pull together hospitable, prompt, caring service to needy people. Almost every Clinic worker is a volunteer.
I, the intake worker and translator, at the end of my assignment, leave the building tired but always content. In the name of Jesus, we have assisted the needy.
Photo: This sign faces busy Calhoun St., Ft. Wayne, IN.
The Clinic Mission Statement is simple and direct: LOVE ALL, SERVE ALL.
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