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Mover, shaker, healer, helper retires

A free-clinic director full of "energy, intelligence and fortitude" is retiring.

By AMY SCHERZER, Times Staff Writer
Published November 23, 2007

WEST TAMPA 

After more than 30 years running the Judeo-Christian Health Clinic, Bea Dreier can't believe her job isn't obsolete.

"This job should not be necessary," Dreier said, "and there should be no need for this clinic. I don't understand why people aren't revolting in the streets for access to health care for all."

But instead of phasing out her role coordinating free medical treatment for working people with no insurance, she's training her successor, Kelly Nelson, to oversee the clinic at 4118 N MacDill Ave.

Dreier retires Dec. 7, having helped thousands of patients receive millions of dollars of donated care.

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"We'll book 27,000 patient visits this year," Dreier said recently. "People struggling to make ends meet on incomes just above poverty level who don't qualify for Medicaid, Medicare or public assistance."

The number has more than quadrupled since the Rev. Jim Holmes started the clinic one night a week in a Sunday school classroom at St. John Presbyterian Church in 1972.

"It took about four weeks to get our first patient," Holmes recalled. "No one could believe that medical care was being given away."

A building was constructed the following year, and Holmes asked Dreier, a church member, to help patients get free appointments with private doctors.

"Like everyone else, I couldn't say no to him," said Dreier, 66, a single mother at the time. Within a year or two, Holmes named her clinic administrator.

"The director of the clinic is not a job, it's a way of life," Holmes said, citing Dreier's phenomenal number of hours and "concern for the plight of the poor."

Clinic space doubled when a doctor donated two modular buildings in 1975. So did demand. In 1999, the late Jim Shimberg raised $1-million for a new building, which now holds 13 exam rooms, dental and eye clinics and a pharmacy. Half went to construction and half into an endowment fund to pay for maintenance.

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To do her job, Dreier counted on 300 volunteer health care professionals: doctors, dentists, pharmacists, podiatrists, optometrists, dietitians, social workers and University of South Florida medical students.

St. Joseph's Hospital provides lab services, X-rays and inpatient care.

Medications are free, too, paid for by the clinic or obtained through drug companies' indigent care programs.

Dreier accomplishes all this on a budget based on annual donations of about $500,000, with about one-fifth spent on drugs.

"No government money, nada," she said.

Sometimes even Dreier is amazed at what they achieve with two full-time and five part-time employees, including a pharmacist and dental assistant.

"I stand in awe of this clinic," she said, "No tax dollars, no United Way, just generous donors who recognize genuine need."

All day long, the waiting room fills with people coming to process paperwork. On Thursday and Friday afternoons, the numbers swell as USF medical students gain experience in family practice.

Around 4, volunteers begin to arrive after long days at their paying jobs. Besides the general medical clinic, Monday night is pediatrics. Wednesday is gynecology. Dental exams are Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

An optician fits lenses and frames for under $50 - "no Gucci," Dreier quips.

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Dreier quit once before, in 1995, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She traveled extensively with her husband Philip. She spent summers at their home in Waldoboro, Maine, writing poetry and painting scenery. Watercolors are her preferred medium and her passion.

Meanwhile, the clinic went through three directors.

Surgeon Sylvia Campbell, board president, asked her to come back.

"I said I'd stay for a year," Dreier remembers. That was late 1999.

Nelson, a graduate of Plant High and the University of Florida, with an MBA from the University of South Florida, will take over in two weeks. Over the last month, the 29-year-old has absorbed Dreier's philosophy.

"To buy a house, the state requires you to have an insurer of last resort, like Citizens," Nelson said. "Why not for health insurance?"

The Rev. Holmes isn't about to let Dreier leave the scene completely. He has a couple of grand plans for his friend.

First, he'd like the clinic to host an exhibition of her paintings.

Then, he'd like her to head up a committee to develop a nationwide health care program.

"She's the one to do it," Holmes said. "She has the energy, intelligence and fortitude to do it. She could do a stunning job."

Amy Scherzer can be reached at scherzer@sptimes.com or 226-3332.

Fast Facts:

Bea Dreier

Age: 66

Family: Husband, Philip, three children, two grandchildren

Education: English degree from USF

Board president: The Learning Center at St. John Presbyterian Church. Raising money to renovate a second location at Nebraska and Lambright avenues.

Passion: "I remember tears streaming when I saw my first Van Gogh."

Immediate goal: Art school. "Everything I see I want to paint."

[Last modified November 21, 2007, 08:02:14]