Nogales, Arizona

Health Care Staff

All of our health care staff volunteer their time—many take a day off from their practice to volunteer at The Clinic. Others are retired and give up a day of retirement activities. Many have been volunteering for a number of years. All are dedicated to providing quality care to our patients despite our often limited resources. Most come every month, but a few specialties are staffed every 3-4 months. We feature 6 volunteers here and will rotate through our volunteer health care staff every couple of months. Each time we will include volunteers from different departments in The Clinic. New faces were added October, 2011.

	Janis Wolfe Gasch, Aud.D., volunteer in the Audiology Department since 1977. She owns Arizona Hearing Specialists in Tucson and Green Valley. She volunteers, “…for the kids, the smiles on their faces. So many of these kids have not had any hearing evaluation until they come here. It changes their lives.”
The Rev. Michael Meyers is a certified pedorthist and fits special shoes in the Orthotics Department. He is a deacon at St. Michael’s and All Angels Episcopal Church in Tucson. He has been a volunteer for almost 20 years.  He maintains Deacon’s Shoebox where people can donate so he can purchase the special shoes needed in this ministry. “Mostly I like the feeling I get when I leave—thinking of all the people that I’ve helped—the tears from the moms, the hugs from the kids.”
	Lynne Albright is a volunteer in the Vision Department. She coordinates things, makes sure there are teachers, interpreters, people to do intakes, etc. She helps with children who have been referred and gets information to the Clinic Patient Services Coordinator. Lynne is retired Principal of the School for the Blind in Tucson. “Working with the families is special. These families are so willing and want to learn about how to help the children, and they really work with the kids between appointments. We can tell they have been working with the kids.”
Cheynne MacMasters is a Reiki Master (teacher); she lives in Bisbee. She has been a volunteer since 2004. She uses Reiki Therapy to help children relax so their other therapies can be more beneficial. “I come because the children, and especially the mothers, are so inspiring—the devotion they give to their kids and the devotion they give to the children—oh, my gosh. It gives you a good feeling for several days after Clinic.”
	Jude Trautlein, RD has volunteered 5 years in the Nutrition Department. She works as a clinical dietician at Sonora Behavioral Health and has a private practice. “It’s great to be able to help families. Every family that we give suggestions to goes home and does it and makes changes in their lives so it’s very rewarding.”
Ron Hansen, MD, is a Pediatric Dermatologist at Phoenix Children’s Hospital and a volunteer at The Clinic since 1987. Every 3 months, he comes down to see our dermatology patients. “I like the kids, the families, the fact that they wouldn’t be getting help otherwise.”