100,000 Welcomes

Today was a vital day for the MVCs of Detroit. Today we went to each of our sites to learn and see what our fellow community members will be doing throughout the year. Our first stop was Cristo Rey. This private catholic school was opened three years ago to the underprivledged youth of Detroit. Most of Cristo Rey's students receive free tution from scholarships and grants; the most any student pays a year is $500.00. It is important to note that any student whose parents make over 4,000 dollars a year are not eligible to attend Cristo Rey. We met with Leon Dixon the Dean of Students and an activist in the community. He has no background in education and was actually a business man. However, he saw a need when he would have young adults coming to him for jobs. The youth of the community seemed to not have a grasp on how to present themselves in a professional manner when it came to dress, communication, presentation, and writing skills. One of the special parts to Cristo Rey is that they really focus on training their students to be professionals. There are classes and seminars on how to answer the phone to how to prepare a proper resume. One issue that really had an impact on me was how little the students knew when it came to subjects that I assumed to be common sense. For example, a uniform policy was put in place last year because the students did not understand what it meant to wear business casual. Leon described how one girl wore an evening gown to school one day. So he made it a point to enforce a school uniform policy which also helps with the anger and violence between the females in the school. This was another interesting topic that came up in conversation. Leon described every girl that is born and raised in Detroit have serious anger issues and the more attractive you are the more you become a target of that anger. He said that it wasn't an ethnic, racial, or demographic issue it was simply that the majority of women in Detroit have anger issues. This is intersting to me because of my academic background in sociology and I wonder what social structures, norms, and mores, of the Detorit area brings about this anger. Leon really fed us a lot of information about the school and students. He explained to us that there was a significant portion of students at the high school that are second generation crack and heroine children. Which was shocking to me but at the same time it was a reality that I have had to deal with through my work with Alvin who was also exposed fetally to drugs and alcohol. Last but not least, Leon touched briefly on immigration in the city of Detroit and what schocked me the most is that statistically there is more illegal immigrants coming from Canada to America than the South Border; he actually was bold enough to state that their are three times more illegal immagrants coming to Detroit than the south border. The majority of them are Chinese and Albanias; Detroit is a safe haven for immigrants however the authorities ignore this safe haven and do a huge search in the fall. What was so great about Leon and the staff at Cristo Rey is their willingness to welcome not just there MV but myself and my other community member as well. It was made very clear that if we had any issues or wanted to get involved in anyway that Leon would hook us up and if he wasn't able too than he would find someone could. It was the beginning of my realization that I was not just part of this community but I was building an extended family.

Believe it or not our entire time spent was Leon only lasted an hour. Next we were on our way to my site, the Cabrini Clinic. The clinic was developed in 1834, when Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church transformed its new chrch building into a medical facility for victims of Detroit's cholera epidemic, it began a long tradition of tending to the nedical needs of southwest Detroit's poor. 100 years later, in 1950, Pastor Father Clement Kern had a mission, meeting the needs of the Corktown neighborhood residents who were the poorest of the poor. Because many were new immigrants in need of basic medical care, he established a free clinic, naming it in honor of Mother Frances Cabrini, the patron sein of immigrants. It is estimated that in Detroit today, 270,000 are uninsured or enrolledin Medicaid. 59% of Detroit's population has income below 200% of the poverty level. Detroit ranks #1 amough 687 USA cities for preventable/avoidable hospitalizations for the population aged 40-64. Detroiters fare much wores in health staus measure than the rest of the state or the nation, including for cancers, asthma, infant mortality, and HIV. The populatin the clinic serves is uninsured adults ages from 18-64, 50% of the patients are African American, 40% are Hispanic, and the balance is Caucasian. The most common diagnosis are hypertension, diabetes, and depression. The Cabrini Clinic receives no goverment funding and operates on a budget of $260,000 a year; which is secured through fundraising. I will be working M-F 10:30 - 5 or 8. Its hours just depend on what is going on at the clinic that week and so on. This non-profit organization hold 3 medical clinics, 1 mental health clinic (which is the only free mental health clinic in Detroit), diabetic education classes, prescription assistance, foot clinic, and eye care. One of the main functions of the clinic is getting the marginalized in the city their medications. Most of them have already seen a doctor but they need the clinic in order to get their medications; which are completely free.

Getting down to the real stuff my job description:
Position Summary - the mercy corps volunteer is a full-time positon, reporting to the Exectuive Director of Carini Clinic. The volunteer coordinates activites with other clinic staff and volunteers. Hours vary by day of the week, according to the hours of patient services.
Duties and Responsibilites -
1) is responsible for the front desk function
2) oversees medical records function, preparing charts for new patients and maintaining and filling curren charts.
3) Assists with preparation and writing of articles for the clinic newletter, Cabrini collector.
4) Maintains the patient registration database.
5)Develops tools and programs to facilitate the work of the clinic
6)Organizes community outreach activites, including recruiting volunteers, organizing and advertising events
7)Participates in community forums and evetns related to the uninsured.

This is the gist of my job and what I will be doing at the Cabrini Clinic, we did not get as much information about the city out of Sister Mary Ellen (my supervisor) but I have no doubt that she will provide me with many good stories to share with you. Side note: As I walked into the clinic I already felt as if I belonged there and everytime I meet with a sister or community member I am invited to some type of party or event today I received an invitation to and Irish party with the clinic.

Last but NOT least our community made its way to Matrix Theater; which is a theater that does production on social justice. They operate out of a black box theater that sits around 30. One of their main attractions are their giant puppets which appear all over the city in parades and other social justice events. Again the feeling of welcome and adding to our extended Detroit family was felt as the theater the same it was at the two previous sites.

Our last adventure of the day was a birthday party for Samantha one of our social services speakers adopted daughters; she was turning 13. But unknown to us it was also Samantha's grandfathers birthday, and Samantha's brother Josh's going away party for college. It was an amazing experience partly because as the party was coming to a close some speeches were about family and how we wouldn't be here without anyone at this party and Janet and Josh drew special attention to us as Mercy Volunteers and Marty a man that I had literally met an hour ago said that we were just here to do work and be involved as a community member that we were here building an extended family and that they were now part of our family. The feelings and emotions that hit me at that moment were intense, warm, and big. I couldn't feel more welcome so when I say I have experience 100,000 welcomes in the span of three days I mean that.