Medical program offered at St. Peter's

By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press
WORCESTER – Needs – and opportunities to meet needs – have brought people together to form at a medical program at a church, a program that grew out of another such program.
St. Peter’s Free Medical Program is offered from 6-8 p.m. each Thursday in St. Peter Parish’s gym at 929 Main St., for those who call ahead for appointments.
It’s a sister program of St. Anne’s Free Medical Program at St. Anne Parish’s Father Smith Center, 130 Boston Turnpike, Shrewsbury, said Lisa Izzo, executive director of both programs. A former administrator for Massachusetts General Hospital, Mrs. Izzo is a member of St. Patrick Parish in Whitinsville.
The programs are independent of the Church, she said. But both parishes donate the space and have their staff help with setup when needed. Also, some program volunteers are members of the parishes. Patients and volunteers do not need to be Catholic to participate in the program.
“Everyone’s a volunteer,” including medical staff, Mrs. Izzo said.
“We follow all Catholic principles because we’re on Catholic property,” she said. But the two programs together form one independent non-profit organization called C.H.A.N.G.E., governed by a board.
 St. Anne’s program was the first of several started by Dr. Harvey G. Clermont, a retired surgeon. He opened it in 1996. It continues to serve patients from 6-8 p.m. each Tuesday. They must now call ahead for an appointment.
Dr. Clermont was medical director there for years, said Dr. Jane Lochrie, who is now medical director at both programs and has served at St. Anne’s since it opened. She was director of the residency program at St. Vincent Hospital before retiring three years ago.
“This is the type of medicine that I love,” she said. “I want to help people that really need it.”
For the past several years, prior to the coronavirus pandemic, there was a 4 percent increase in patients each year, and the number was becoming unmanageable, Mrs. Izzo said. One night in August 2019 about 30 volunteers saw 125 patients, she said.
“Our biggest rush is in August” when children need to get physicals and vaccinations before school starts, she said. “We’ve been getting over 100 phone calls per week,” she said recently. And they’re still coming in.
 Twenty-five percent of the population at St. Anne’s program came from Worcester, including St. Peter’s neighborhood, she noted.
So in August 2020 the staff at St. Anne’s opened the program at St. Peter’s. They had to postpone the planned April opening that year because of the coronavirus. And St. Anne’s was closed due to the virus from March 2020 through July 2020. Both were closed from December 2020 to March 2021, she said. In May Bishop McManus blessed the St. Peter’s program.
Also in May St. Peter’s program, which had been seeing only adults, began taking children as patients and offering childhood vaccines, she said. (The programs did not give the coronavirus vaccines, because other places were providing those vaccines, she said. But now UMass Medical Center’s mobile clinic is offering the vaccines each week at St. Anne’s.)
Mrs. Izzo said Massachusetts has many opportunities for people to get medical care, but some people don’t access it. Some are uninsured, underinsured or cannot afford deductibles their insurance requires. Some cannot take time off from work to see doctors.
While federally qualified health centers “provide a lot more services than we do,” the wait is sometimes too long, said John Smithhisler, director of strategic planning for St. Peter’s and St. Anne’s programs. A former CEO of St. Vincent Hospital, he attends Mass at the hospital and St. Rose of Lima Parish in Northborough. (Mrs. Izzo said federally qualified centers are licensed clinics, while St. Anne’s and St. Peter’s aren’t.)
St. Peter’s pastor, Msgr. Francis J. Scollen, offered another reason for patients choosing St. Peter’s program: “People who are undocumented – there’s a trust level here. They might have a perception” that other places would report them to the government, even if those places would not.
“We’re trying to provide opportunities for services that people might have trouble accessing,” Mrs. Izzo said.
Dr. Lochrie said they see many patients needing physicals for work, or general medical care, such as prescriptions for diabetes and high blood pressure.
A.J. Ward, a UMass medical student, said he helps St. Peter’s patients get information about other services “that might impact people’s health, like affordable housing … food options.” (They can get food through the parish, Msgr. Scollen noted.)
“We’re trying to get people signed up for health insurance,” so they have better, more constant, access to care, Mr. Ward said.
 “The more volunteers we have, the more patients we can see,” Mr. Smithhisler said. “Clinical volunteers can see patients.” Other volunteers can serve in other ways; “we can put people wherever their talents are.”
Mrs. Izzo said she could use more medical volunteers and interpreters. Medical students gain experience there, she said.
Grace Tang, a student at Union College in Schenectady, New York, who is considering pre-med studies, said she has volunteered at St. Anne’s for about three years. This year she started volunteering at St. Peter’s too during the summers and breaks.
“I just like getting to know new people and helping out,” she said. “I’ve always come back every week because I enjoy being here.”
Some volunteers offer services not provided by the program itself. Neighborhood resident Janet Tormey, a registered dental hygienist, said she wanted to volunteer now that she’s retired.
“There was no dental aspect” at St. Peter’s program, she said. So she was allowed to set up a dental table there. She said she initially got toothpaste and toothbrushes from Colgate and still gets some from there. Now word is getting out and more individual dental offices are donating supplies, she said.
She also sought student volunteers from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences University.
“This is basically part of their community service,” volunteering at St. Peter’s, said Jaymi Adams, an MCPHS instructor helping the students. She said the students came to educate St. Peter’s patients and give out vouchers for free preventative dental care.
The Guild of Our Lady of Providence found another way to serve – presenting St. Peter’s program with $1,000. The Guild’s medical program at St. Bernard Church closed in 2011 since organizers couldn’t get a doctor to staff it, said Jo Luikey, Guild president and a member of Sacred Heart-St. Catherine of Sweden Parish.
“That’s part of our mission – health, education and ... charities,” she said. “So we wanted to find a health organization to support. … We hope we’ll be able to support them in the future.”
Mrs. Izzo said the donation will probably be used for new equipment. Monetary donations to buy supplies are also welcome, she said; “we do live off donations and grants.”

Editor’s note: Patients must make appointments ahead of time for St. Peter’s by calling 508-523-6500 and for St. Anne’s by calling 508-523-6138.