What turns a physician’s repeated encounters with preventable suffering into a mission to provide free care for thousands? Join Dr. Lee Sharma on the Scalpel and Sword Podcast as she talks with Dr. Jubril Oyeyemi. Discover how a childhood tragedy in Nigeria, heartbreaking hospital stories, and a deep commitment to underserved patients led to building a thriving nonprofit staffed by nearly 200 volunteers, and why volunteering there has become a surprising antidote to burnout.
What if the patients you see suffering from lack of access aren’t choosing noncompliance, they simply lost insurance due to life circumstances?
In this powerful episode of Scalpel and Sword, Dr. Lee Sharma sits down with Dr. Jubril Oyeyemi, as he shares his unlikely journey from hospitalist to clinic founder after repeatedly witnessing patients return with advanced illness simply because they couldn’t afford medications or follow-up care.
They explore how deep listening to patients’ real stories breaks assumptions, how a clear and authentic “why” attracts passionate volunteers, and how approaching partnerships with humility and shared humanity prevents conflict. Most surprisingly, they discuss how giving time at the free clinic has become a powerful antidote to burnout for busy clinicians, reconnecting them with the pure joy of practicing medicine.
This conversation offers inspiration and practical wisdom for any physician who wants to make a tangible difference for the underserved while protecting their own sense of purpose.
Top 3 Takeaways:
About the Show:
Behind every procedure, every patient encounter, lies an untold story of conflict and negotiation. Scalpel and Sword, hosted by Dr. Lee Sharma—physician, mediator, and guide—invites listeners into the unseen battles and breakthroughs of modern medicine. With real conversations, human stories, and practical tools, this podcast empowers physicians to reclaim their voices, sharpen their skills, and wield their healing power with both precision and purpose.
About the Guest:
Dr. Jubril Oyeyemi is an award-winning primary care physician who practices full-time at Virtua Health in Camden, New Jersey. He serves on committees focused on bioethics, quality, patient safety, and continuity of care for complex patients. Passionate about healthcare access, he founded the Cherry Hill Free Clinic in 2017, a nonprofit primary care center dedicated to serving uninsured and underinsured patients free of charge. In just eight years, the clinic has grown to serve thousands and is now supported by nearly 200 dedicated volunteers.
🔗 Connect with Dr. Jubril Oyeyemi
🌐 Website: cherryhillfreeclinic.org
📧 Email: help@cherryhillfreeclinic.org
About the Host:
Dr. Lee Sharma is a gynecologist based in Auburn, AL, with over 30 years of clinical experience. She holds a Master’s in Conflict Resolution and is passionate about helping colleagues navigate workplace challenges and thrive through open conversations and practical tools.
[00:00:00] Hello, my peaceful warriors and welcome to the Scalpel and Sword Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Lee Sharma, physician and conflict analyst. Now I'm gonna ask you a question. You've been practicing, you've been working in healthcare, and you see the plight of the underserved patients in your community. You've seen them come into your emergency room, you've seen them come into your clinic.
They need you. They need care, but they have no idea how to access it, how to pay for it, and how we can actually work to provide resources for them to receive what they so desperately need. And our guest today on the Scaffold Sword Podcast is gonna help us explore this very topic. I am so excited to have on the show today, Dr.
Jabil Ohmy. He is an award-winning primary care physician who practices full-time medicine in Camden, New Jersey. He is on staff at Virtua Health and he serves on various committees including bioethics quality, patient safety, [00:01:00] and continuity of care for complex care patients. He is so passionate about healthcare access that he founded the Cherry Hill Free Clinic in 2017, which is a nonprofit primary care center dedicated to serving the uninsured and underinsured free of charge.
The clinic is staffed by a diverse team of passionate volunteers and generously supported by local community organizations and health systems. In just eight years, the Cherry Hill Free Clinic has grown to serve thousands of patients becoming one of New Jersey's largest free centers of care. Dr. Ami did his undergraduate degree in Bachelor's in biology at Lincoln University, and he got his medical degree at Penn State.
He did his residency at Jefferson Health finishing there in 2012. He is also a member of the initial cohort of the Physicians Foundation Leadership Institute. Which started in September of [00:02:00] 2025 and is teaching health policy is teaching about development of business ideas and concept models. And I was very fortunate to meet Jabre and have him sitting next to me at our initial cohort for PFLI.
So Jabil, welcome to the show. Thank you so, so much, Lee. It is a tremendous opportunity to get to, just rub minds and, share some of, my work with you. when we first met and we started talking and really getting into knowing each other. 'cause I think this is one of the things we realized very quickly that this group that we were involved with, this is a very exceptional group of doctors.
And I think one of the things I felt coming out of that first interaction with everyone is I had such hope. For what medicine could become. And I think a big part of that for me, because we were sitting next to each other for that entire cohort, is I really got to hear your passion, your intentionality about what you've done with Cherry Hill.
But there had to have [00:03:00] a starting point. There had to have been something that just clicked in you that said, I need to do this. certainly Lee. So you know, It's an interesting journey. Part of it has actually been unlikely. And you'll understand why I say that, but so my journey actually goes back, many decades.
I was, born and raised in Nigeria. And, one of the reasons I would choose medicine, as a journey to embark on was that I got to see what a lot of just inaccess looked like. And, now that's it. There's a lot of amazing things about Nigeria, but my experience growing up was such that I saw what that inaccess was.
And, the height of that for me would've been, sometime in my early teenage years. Getting to experience my neighbor's daughter who we loved and just adored and was just. A spark just wake up one morning and she passed away. and yeah, you remember this. it stays with you.
Remember this [00:04:00] powerlessness of, how could this have happened, especially when, we found out then that the reason she passed away was that she had, gotten flu-like symptoms, got high fevers and, what I found know to be a febrile seizure where she would've had, and that's where she passed away from.
Yeah. And at the time I didn't know it, but you look back now, you go, oh my God, just access to a doctor too. Recommend bring the fevers down. forget all the fancy stuff. Just the recommendation to bring the fevers down might probably would've saved Esther's life.
And so anyways, that moment would lead such a mark on me to go, you know what? I want to again, pursue medicine so that there aren't esters in the world, happening. And so anyways, fast forward, got outta high school 16, came to the us right into college. I went sort of rapid fire.
College, med school, you know, residency all straight through. Mm-hmm. And right after training, I joined a local health system, here in South Jersey. The largest ones as a hospitalist. [00:05:00] And what's interesting about that choice itself is the unlikely part I spoke about earlier.
'cause internal medicine training, you get a lot of inpatient exposure. A lot of it, right. So you got really comfortable, in the ICU putting lines in. and just dealing with all these, like these, extreme situations mm-hmm. But I did not care for primary care as the residents.
In fact, I would've done anything to give away my primary care clinics, as a resident. because of all that exposure in residency, I went straight to become a hospitalist after, joining, the largest health system here in South Jersey.
And as fate would have it, week in week, and admit and discharging patients and, I would see. Five to 10 cases of patient situations where, you know, whatever it is they were coming in for. When I dug deep to the source problem it was always, I lost health insurance because life happened and that life happening was usually in a form of, divorce, [00:06:00] loss of job, sick family member life happened.
don't have health insurance. Couldn't afford to see my doctor, in some cases that I've had for years. and so I couldn't get refills of my $4 medicines. Right. And because of that, now I've suffered a second heart attack, a second stroke. I've now lost, 10, 15% of my ejection fraction.
And it was just like week after week. I just gained pummeled by these cases. Yeah. I would say to myself like, oh man, like there's gotta be something, I'm like, you know, 'cause a lot of these folks I met. Reminded me of like my own family member. Like they could be my aunt, they could be my next door neighbor, right?
And I'm like, man, if I just met you six months ago when you were dealing with this loss of health insurance, I'd write you a year's worth of refills. It would take nothing from me to just give you a year's worth of You are a beta blocker, statin, you know, your diabetes medicines, right?
And so that would happen so much. And the straw that would break my back about that would be a [00:07:00] 52-year-old retired school teacher I saw in the er. They come in with a second heart attack, got down to the crux of the story and it was there once again, that gut punch of. Life happened.
She got really quiet during the, interrogation, the, history taken. She got really quiet with, shame that stays with you. and she goes, yeah, I couldn't get my refills. I went through a divorce, you know, a couple months ago. I was sort of rationing my meds, couldn't afford my doctor's visit, and I, was like, this is it.
We gotta do something. I'm like, I wouldn't even care if we have to do something in a parking lot somewhere. Like we gotta do something. and yeah. And there it was, the Cherry Hill Free Clinic would, come to. be realized.
but then that journey from 2017 until now, Lee would be the matter of, justwhen it launched. I said to myself, I was like, I don't care if I have to. Do the registering, the patient, answering the calls, seeing them, discharging them from the [00:08:00] clinic, taking a follow up. I was like, I don't care if I got all of that, but it's getting done.
Right. But yeah, I've been so blessed that along with the journey, all these incredible angels have just shown up. They're showing up. And so, I think it's one of the amazing things it's revived my hope of humanity. 'cause these folks have shown up and so.
Such that I'm not having to do all of that. we are a team of about almost 200 people who are making healthcare possible for, neighbors in New Jersey, who can't afford health insurance. Wow. Oh my gosh. Okay. there's so much I wanna talk about.
So, one of the first things that I think really jumps out as you're telling that story. Is that situation you're describing where you see people who didn't come in because they couldn't get their meds or because they didn't have the financial resources to do this for whatever reason. And very often it's not situations of their own choosing, it's things that happen to them that they had no control over.
And I think when those patients come into the ER or in their unit or [00:09:00] however we encounter them, that. If we don't dig deep enough to get an actual story, sometimes we're quick to assume that. Oh, this patient's choosing to be noncompliant. This patient's choosing to do this. No, they're not choosing to do this, and I can't tell you how often it happens to me, or I haven't seen a patient for two or three years.
You know, they had an abnormal pap or they had something that definitely needed follow up and we haven't seen them, and then they come in two or three years later. This happened to me for. Friday that she came in and was like, so we've not seen you for a while. She says, yeah, I lost my health insurance.
And so I didn't come back in to get follow up. And I'm like, We will always work with you. It doesn't matter what you can do. We will find a way. We will get you in and we will get this followed up. So I think first and foremost, you dug deeper. Omni stories for these patients and digging deeper was really a big part of the impetus that encouraged you to take the step because you listened to their stories and then you actually went below the stories you went into them.
And for the patient, that's so [00:10:00] powerful, right? Because you cared enough to do that. And I think it's really a great message for all of us as we're hearing these stories, to take that one little bit of extra time to get deeper into that story because. That was such a powerful motivation for you. But I think the other thing that's so cool about you starting Cherry Hill and having this now 200 strong group of people is that to do this, and you say it so beautifully, you have to be aligned in that mission to do this work.
Correct. That all of you are very much in sync with your why. And that why is a big part, I think, of why Cherry Hill has grown so quickly is because you've been able to do that. In terms of having this really wonderful team and having this alignment, is that something that happened naturally or was that something that you felt like you encouraged or you had other people that encouraged where all of your team is very much [00:11:00] in that same mindset?
Yeah. Lee, you make a great point with the start with the why. Because one of the, things I've learned in this journey is that human beings are incredible. and I tell you, you know, it's so much to unpack there. But what I mean specifically in this case is that I have not met one.
Doctor, no matter who you are, no matter where you are from, no matter what demographic you belong to who's heard about the mission of the clinic and hasn't gone, I wanna do that. I can't wait to do that. You know what's often the struggle is capacity. Right? Folks, you know, may be in a place where they don't have capacity, but they almost always say, I can't wait to get to do that.
And That is such a motivative for me. But it also confirms something I know, which it's what a lot of us, and it's why you'd spend. All these decades, you know, just spend it all in pursuit of this one skill. And so I say that because there is a lot to go in the [00:12:00] equation of the Cherry Hill free claim to make it happen.
But some of what powers that are those volunteer physicians. Nurse practitioners, nurses, PAs, nonclinical staff, right? Is that a lot of times these are folks choosing to come do this. Wendy is literally a thousand of the things they could be doing, a Saturday, a Sunday.
Evening clinics, daytime on a day off, right. For an ER doc, like this. Mm-hmm. You know, and so even in all of that the why is crisp and clear. And I don't often think about this, but one of, my volunteers just yesterday was telling me in clinic, she said,
The culture of this place. she's like even just being in this space. Like there's something about the culture of this place where there's a lot of, graciousness. Like it's an arms wide open approach. And that arms wide open approach the ties into your first point about listening.
Because you listen differently when you're listening like this, forget all the preconceived, forget all the assumptions. You know, there's a [00:13:00] lot of assumptions that I've learned just not true.
Like one of them. You mentioned this premise that, you know, folks who are uninsured just are trying to spend their money on other things and they just wanna buy health insurance. Absolutely not true. I, I've not found any ounce of that to have any food then.
Because these are often folks. Neighbors work in multiple jobs, right? Caring for loved ones, caring for especially needs child, sometimes healthcare workers themselves, right? So you know, that why of serving them is just like, no. Like this could be me. this could be me at.
Any point. This could be my mother, my sister, you name it. And so when that why is clear, it just changes your mindset of being there. It changes your experience of the time you gave to care for that neighbor and, mm-hmm. Yeah. You walk away just feeling, the 13th [00:14:00] century Persian poet,roomies said that when you practice love and kindness and compassion, you are the first one to benefit from that.
I'll tell you a quick story. There's, one of our neurologist volunteers. she runs A very busy neurology residency program at Penn. And she's got a young family and so I was on the phone with her, but, just tell me about your experience at the clinic.
It's been a year, she goes , you know, life around me. She said, it's so Busy that every time I sign up to volunteer at the clinic, I go, maybe this is the last time. Because again, it just takes a lot. she able to come on Saturdays only, but she's like right without fail.
By the time she sees the first patient, there's a reminder of, this is the why and I can't wait to do this again. I can't wait till my next shift almost. so it's just incredible. Yeah. Oh my goodness, so beautiful that this idea that. When the people are coming to Cherry Hill, when you're getting people to come and work, and they're giving of their time and themselves, that they realize very quickly that the benefit that's being [00:15:00] given is really the one who's serving, the one who's actually providing.
That benefit in terms of how you feel and what you're gaining from that process. Not just the fact of the experience that you're giving, but actually having that, like you said, the open arm listening, being able to connect with somebody in that way. And I also love how you put this, 'cause I think this is one of the reasons why conflict kind of can blossom in terms of people working and doing the work that you're doing.
Is, I think anytime you get into an us and them mentality, I think anytime you get into this idea that we are doing this and they are doing something different, but the concept of at any point in time this could be one of us. That the circumstances that led these people to being underserved or uninsured, this could happen to anybody.
And if you look at it as something that's a common experience, there's no more us and them. It's, we. Correct. It's all of us. [00:16:00] Correct. I'm providing something that I can provide and I'm grateful that I can do it. I'm so grateful. Like your doctor, your neurologist that comes on Saturdays, she figures out with the first patient.
I'm grateful to be the one that's here. Correct? Correct. And when people get into that head space of gratitude and commonality, I think that's where you start to see conflict evaporate. I think you no longer see people arguing about resources or time or anything else. It is just one big pool of this is a common experience and I'm happy to be part of it.
And you definitely have what you're describing. You cultivate that really well. And also do love the fact that this person had worked there for a year and you were following up with her. You wanted to know what her experience was, and so that was important to you as a leader to actually hear what that experience was.
So there's something also beautiful in the fact that you even have that story that you were able to do that. Thank you. Thank you. Before we started recording, one of the [00:17:00] things that we talked about was as you were going through this process of starting Cherry Hill, you. Looked at pathways to avoid conflict and not in the sense of a conflict.
Avoider, like I freely admit that I'm a recovering conflict avoider. You know, it's amazing to me that I actually do this work because I was a person for so many years that I would absolutely run from conflict. 'cause I didn't understand the power of it. I didn't understand that I actually had power to be transformative.
But one of the things that you talked about before we started is that you actually looked for ways. To start this clinic and to negotiate this process where you were anticipating conflict before it could occur. What did that look like for you when you were starting that process? yeah.
Like, so, to, delve into that, it was, realizing really quickly that if the clinic, it's to serve the neighbors that we are here for, right? Mm-hmm. There was problems we needed to help [00:18:00] them solve, right? so in the early days, what we had. Solved really quickly was well put Dr. Jabil in the room with, one of the neighbors we served, right?
And they don't have to worry about the cost of seeing Dr. Jabil, right? What would've cost hundreds of dollars, out of pocket for someone who doesn't have it, That part is zero, right? But then you realize very quickly that. That's just one piece of the healthcare problem they got.
They still got labs to figure out, say Dr. Bil now decides that they need an ultrasound, an x-ray, maybe even a CAT scan or whatever, advanced imaging, right? we're back to square one. in some cases we saw neighbors who could not afford their critical medicines.
So it's like this was all for not, seeing again, the doctor's fee covered. it was off or not. And so, that got us to quickly realize the existential need for partners, right? say what you will about the healthcare system is the healthcare system, this was our way of doing something for the neighbors we care [00:19:00] about.
But you still need . Portions of the healthcare system. She said, need get to put it together to make it work for, Mr. Jenkins who's now here, who's got heart failure in his forties and needs access to critical medicines, needs access to echo and needs access to, all these things.
And so realizing the need for those partnerships meant that we needed to approach conversations with those partners from a place of looking for, okay. Alright. we've asked for this meeting. Right with, healthcare system leaders, with radiology service line leaders with the legal team of the healthcare system, right?
There's this quote by, RVG, That drives this point home. Right? And it goes fight for things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you. And what that does is it changes your mindset
'cause even when you're fighting for something that's noble. Right? Can't do it alone. you still need to pull folks along. you need that mission to become their mission. Yeah. And the only way you do [00:20:00] that. is to do it from a place of openness, from a place of, what are incentives that would work from a place of a common humanity, from a place of humility Right now.
What's often not talked about is, you know, even when you've done all that there's still patience and persevering that needs to happen. Right. Because just because you've done this, you know you've got this great idea, you've got it started, doesn't mean it's gonna be taken quite seriously.
Like right away. There are folks, you know the theory of change, right? They're the early adopters and then there's folks that you had to prove that, okay, this is actually working a bit. And so we had to be patient enough to go through that phase where, everyone in the community is going, no, this is happening.
This is not some cutesy little project. This is like a full blown operation. And yeah, and then you get to pull people along. but anyways, I hope that answers that question. Oh my gosh. Absolutely. And one of the things I do love about this, because I think [00:21:00] it speaks to so many things, the process of what you've done at Cherry Hill, but also the process of advocacy is the idea that when you are in this fight and you are actively working on something that means a lot to you and is going to benefit a lot of people, that there has to be.
Some type of alignment or agreement within that advocacy group. And that is how you take people with you on this journey, is that you are very clear in your message. You're very authentic in your message, and that authenticity resonates with other people , and that is where you're going to get them to join you.
And I also think, like having talked to other people about advocacy on the show. That is where advocacy efforts can fall down. That you can have somebody who's got a really good idea. It's like, I've got a really great idea to start something that's gonna help a lot of people. That's fantastic. Yeah.
But unfortunately, if we're not really clear on that idea or mm-hmm. If for some reason we've got disagreement within this group, [00:22:00] this advocacy's not gonna go very far. So one of the things that you definitely had to anticipate in starting Cherry Hill is. How can I craft this message? How can I get buy-in from the community that's actually gonna get people to agree with me and push this process forward and not create fighting within the group that I'm trying to work through?
And so you were very wise in being able to craft that message. But I think this is just you, but I think you're very transparent and authentic with your motivation and I think people can really see that. As you kind of got into this, and I think one of the things that's so great about you checking in with other doctors is that, all clinical work is hard.
All clinical work is challenging. All clinical work is prone to burnout, and what you're doing at Cherry Hill is no different, and certainly could make the argument that you're doing such important work within a population that needs you so desperately that burnout might even be a little higher.[00:23:00]
In your 200 strong team at Cherry Hill, is that something that you actively work on or try to also anticipate with your team? there's an interesting paradox that I found actually In this work. And that is that and healthcare leaders struggle with this when I make this point, but it's definitely been my lived experience mm-hmm.
In the last, nine years of running the clinic. And that story by that which is just one of many by the way, about my volunteer neurologist, right. It highlights that point, Which is that in a health system where burnout is so in your face, and it is such a crisis.
It is interesting that for my 60 something providers, mostly physicians, it has been an antidote to burnout. Wow, I given your time. Yeah. myself I testified to that fact because [00:24:00] there is something that is really hard to put to words about walking away, knowing that you're in a space where.
You've made such an impact and without your time that day, this person, who's shown a lot of gratitude, who's just grateful for what you've done for them, that care would not have been possible. And I see it, I've done surveys at the clinic, I got surveys to show it.
I hear it time in the game. You know, when I debrief our providers, especially the ones Who do this work, like, who are defiant with their schedules, because you give an example. Yeah. you know, we have a few orthopedic, surgery volunteers right now, but our very first one, my beloved, Dr. Ross Adams, I was at dinner with her, last week, and I asked her, I said, listen, I said, Laura, you were in a practice. You were a solo. Back running your own practice. So you're like, wow, in a, busy practice of 20 staff doing X amount of cases, seeing about a hundred [00:25:00] patients Monday through Friday, I'm like, yeah, if that growing kids, a growing family, and then you show up here on Sundays like, I know it's awesome there, but I'm like, mm-hmm.
Tell me why, like, why are you doing this Right? Yeah. And she answered that question by sharing the story of one of the patients that she saw just, that week at the free clinic where she goes, well, this middle aged woman, works at a diner. a local diner, right.
Just washing dishes all day without healthcare. It's not reached a point mm-hmm. Where she's able to use her hands. And so you can imagine all the downstream loss that's happened because her arms which is her means of livelihood. Dr.
Laura Ross sees her, the clinic identifies that, oh, after, you know, getting the, examining her and doing her thing, that she's got really terrible carpal tunnel, but later carpal tunnel, right? So, you know, she tried injecting it at the clinic, didn't quite get the response.
So guess what she does? She makes the case to a local ambulatory surgical center that does pro bono work for the clinic to [00:26:00] say, Hey, listen, we gotta take this case on. Gets her on the schedule, adds the case to her case of the week. But for her, she's going, I just helped this woman who would've otherwise, I mean, that might have been it as far as work goes right, because that median is getting just suffocated to a point of, just weakness
And incapacity. And so my answer to your question there is that there is this interesting thing we've found where we're actually giving of yourself . For this cause it is actually a reminder, a regrounding, an antidote burnout. And I've made the argument on a large scale of the health system leaders that we might wanna look at this here.
you know, might wanna really seriously look at this because there is something that happens here that a lot of. our physicians and clinicians are not getting in there, you know, within the health system, which is just a behemoth there's so many things you can see about that, yeah. Yeah. oh my gosh, that is so beautiful. And I think absolutely. and I hear you talk about this when they come to Cherry Hill, they get [00:27:00] re-grounded. They are then much more anchored into their own personal why for showing up for these patients.
And it is clarifying because you actually get it. this is why I started, this is why I went to medical school. This is why I'm here right now, is because of this experience I'm having with this patient that I genuinely walked away feeling like I could help somebody. And I think unfortunately, in their daily lives.
Other places. You are so mired in the obstacles in third party payers and you know. There's just so many things that can affect that. And the fact that they can come to Cherry Hill and have this very pure experience of practicing and that very pure experience lights a fire in them. It's like, okay, I'm good.
I have now been reminded of why I'm doing this, and now I can go back and I can actually fight another day in other parts of the system. And it's fascinating, right? Because I think so often we talk about burnout. We talk about treating burnout and the antidotes to [00:28:00] burnout and all of those things that we kind of wanna treat.
And so rarely do we ever think about, well, practicing more medicine could actually reduce your burnout. And it's like, what? Yeah, that sounds very counterintuitive, and yet it does. Your experience at Cherry Hill Clinic is exactly the opposite, is that having this very beautiful experience of service is actually an antidote to burnout.
it's 'cause it's that service with no strings attached. You know? And you know exactly what I mean by that. spent the first decade of my career. Within a hospital, so I know why those strings are attached. But it dilutes from the experience of service for which all of us Right.
Endured all of this training in. And so to be able to step away from that and come to a place where you're getting that and it's most. Pristine and beautiful form. Right. And so, yeah. it's always interesting when I try that, and the reason I sayI struggle finding words for it, is that, you think about how do you describe the sweetness [00:29:00] of honey?
To someone. you could go, yeah, it's sweet, but it's not sugar. But it's sweet, but it's not all these other things. And how do you do that? Here's a SPO of honey, right? You taste it, you go oh, this is why it's the honey. You know?
that's what I sort of liken, volunteerism in medicine to, is that, oh, this is something else. I came to this with intention to do this, and I'm able to do it in a way where that fits the ideals of why I went into this in the first place.
Yeah, a hundred percent. Oh my gosh, that's so cool. So someone is listening to this podcast and they are inspired by what you have done to the point that they want to start something similar in their area. What one piece of advice would you give them before embarking on that process? First, I would say start.
Okay. a lot of times, and I say that because I mean you generally, there's people who. [00:30:00] Once get all the facts ready and all that, which that mm-hmm. Certainly has its place. Right. The needs assessment, the community. but we know the healthcare need is there.
It's like, doesn't matter what corner of the nation you're in , healthcare access is an issue particularly for the uninsured in these times. So I say start because I know that. Your needs assessment is gonna tell you yes, there's a bunch of uninsured people suffering and rationing medicine and just, dealing with that.
But then the second thing, which goes back to something we've touched on is that you need to make friends, you need folks along the way. and so those two things and then everything else. Everything else you learn along, you learn so much along the way. It's incredibly rewarding journey when you're actually, have been thinking about how codifying the secret sauce mm-hmm.
Of life at the cherry frequently because, part of, being, vested, in this mission is not just for New Jersey here, it's to be able to do this for neighbors across the country. Yeah. [00:31:00] and so we've been thinking about how to do that because this is reproducible.
this is impact. this is needed. That's so brilliant and I feel like that's such wisdom it's so easy to overthink a process like this and create obstacles. Not necessarily where there aren't any, because I think the process is very challenging and I think you've done a beautiful job walking through it and asking other people to join you, but I think overthinking the process can be a detriment to starting any project.
I definitely will testify to that instead of starting a podcast. You can think it and think it and think it. And really what you just need to do is turn on the microphone and go. Exactly. And I think the same thing holds true for what you've done is that at a certain point you can overthink to the point you talk yourself out of it, don't do it, just go.
And then you see your first patient and. Just like your other physicians have experienced that first patient. Yeah, this is why I'm here. this is why I'm doing this. And I think you will [00:32:00] undoubtedly draw other people to you and with you, 'cause you've certainly done that so beautifully at Cherry Hill.
Jabil. If people wanna reach out to you and if they have questions about Cherry Hill and if they have questions about you and your beautiful journey, how would they best reach out to you? thank you for that opportunity. So, cherry hilley clinic.org is our website help@cherryhealeyclinic.org it's got a bunch of us sort of, looking at that email.
sometimes it's patients, sometimes it's partners, but yeah, those two contacts there, we are quite active. on social media, you know, to tag a charity clinic. And, yeah, just looking into partner, looking to serve to reach uninsured neighbors.
wherever they may be. we've started small. This works. And, we want to get to all the corners of communities that could use this type service. Absolutely. And there's so much need, and I love the fact that you have found such a great way to meet that need, and I think people listening are [00:33:00] gonna be really inspired to take these steps as well.
That's awesome. Jabil, thank you for your time. Thank you for being here. This has been Oh, my pleasure. A wonderful conversation. It's always a blessing to get to, share that. And, it's funny, my mission officer, said to me many years ago, he's like, at some point this will get, so big that your last question is what I'm actually gonna end up spend a lot of my time doing, which is how do we get this?
How do we find the drills in the different communities who want to do this? and at the time I thought I was like, I said, what are you talking about? I was like, you know, I'm just trying to, run clinic. I'm just trying to make sure, the next patient gets what they need. I'm like, what are you talk?
And sure enough, nine years later, I had a conversation with one of my new volunteers, She's got a mind for like, systems level. Like she's done, remarkable work like strategy work at different, national organizations . Yeah. So she and had like a two hour conversation about, and her ask of me, 'cause she [00:34:00] volunteers at the clinic, seeing patients, but she's like, listen, we need to take this to every community, she said, and so her and I, we pledge to have a series of meetings because we want to essentially.
Codify. and her saying that to me was like, oh wow. like, this is another reminder by, the universe that this needs to happen because, it's not just me thinking we wanted something here, volunteering with us for a couple months. She's going, we gotta cod this and we gotta spread.
So anyways, Lee, thank you so much for the opportunity yeah. Absolutely. And definitely as you're working, codifying this process, finding the secret sauce that is Cherry Hill, I would love to have you back on the show and we can talk about that because I think that would also be an amazing conversation.
Awesome. For all of the peaceful warriors who have joined us today on the Scalpel and Sword Podcast, thank you so much for your presence and until next time, be at peace.