By Johnny Jackson
jjackson@henryherald.com

McDonough resident, Ruth Rucker, is excited about the future of a local health clinic for low-income patients.

Earlier this month, the registered nurse was appointed to the role of interim executive director of the Hands of Hope Clinic, Inc., the non-profit medical clinic in Stockbridge.

Rucker is joined by the clinic’s new medical director, Dr. Sarveswar Naidu, who will serve on the clinic’s leadership team. Naidu succeeded Dr. David Humphries as the clinic’s medical director, and Rucker replaced former Executive Director Linda Banks, beginning March 4.

“I think the biggest thing that I want to do is to get more people to know about the work we do throughout Henry County,” Rucker said. “It’s a very important program ... that we take care of people who have no insurance and have no health care on their own.”

Rucker said the clinic, founded in August 2004, serves Henry County’s lower income families — families that do not qualify for Medicare or Medicaid.

“They fall through the cracks,” she said. “That’s why they call us ‘a safety net clinic.’ I think that’s a good way to describe us, and we’re the only one in Henry County like this.”

The clinic serves hundreds of families in the area who may not otherwise receive medical treatment, Rucker said, adding that patient visits totaled nearly 2,000 in 2009.

Rucker said Hands of Hope partners with others in the health-care industry, including Henry Medical Center and Kaiser Permanente, who provide resources and some grant funding for the clinic’s operations.

“[However,] we are a non-profit, and we really don’t have any dependable source of funding,” she said. “We need on-going funding to provide services.”

The clinic also relies on hefty volunteerism, as there are only four full-time clinic staff members, but as many as 40 active volunteers at the clinic, she continued.

“My most specific goal is to really get more people out there involved,” Rucker said. “We are always trying to get more volunteers, because we are a volunteer-oriented organization.”

Rucker started as a volunteer nurse with Hands of Hope in 2005, and quickly assumed responsibility for coordinating the services of all the medical volunteers, and was enlisted as a member of the clinic’s board of directors.

During the relief efforts following the Hurricane Katrina disaster, Rucker coordinated medical support services at McDonough Presbyterian Church, one of the region’s staging areas for those displaced by the storm. She is also a member of the church.

Rucker holds a master’s degree in health-care administration from the University of Michigan, and has held positions in hospital management, long-term care administration and health-care marketing throughout her career.

In addition to serving on the Hands of Hope Board of Directors, she has served on the boards of the Southern Crescent Chapter of the American Heart Association and the Henry County YMCA.

Naidu is a graduate of Presidency College in Madras, India. He holds a medical degree in orthopedics from All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, India. He was certified by the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery in 1976, and has practiced orthopedics in Georgia ever since.

Naidu has lived in the McDonough area for 11 years. He is a former assistant professor at the Medical College of Georgia and has published various articles with particular focus on total joint replacement, arthroplasty and arthroscopy.

His role as medical director at Hands of Hope centers primarily on recruiting physician volunteers to offer their services at the clinic, to arrange for specialty referrals, and to oversee the medical operations of the clinic.

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On the net:

Hands of Hope:

www.HandsofHopeClinic.org