Methodist’s partnership with Healing Gift Free Clinic expands with cardiovascular sonography services

Thanks to a partnership between Nebraska Methodist College (NMC) and the Del and LouAnn Weber Healing Gift Free Clinic in downtown Omaha, students like Grace Dalen have a unique opportunity to learn about providing health care to underinsured and uninsured people.

“It’s wonderful,” said Dalen, a first-year sonography student at NMC. “As a student, it’s easy to be in the classroom and interact with people in your cohort, but when you get out here and volunteer, you see the community and what Omaha really needs.”

Dalen is one of many sonography students who have the chance to interact with patients, professional sonographers and cardiologists at the Healing Gift Free Clinic. Becca Bouckaert, EdD, RVT, RDCS, the program director of Diagnostic Medical Sonography at NMC, and Nikki Schnitzler, RDCS, an echocardiography instructor at the college, help to coordinate the partnership.

“What a great opportunity for students to gain exposure,” Bouckaert said. “Now, they know this is out there and they can give back to the community. They get to work with patients. They get to be with cardiologists. It’s an all-around positive atmosphere.”

The Healing Gift Free Clinic – which recently celebrated 15 years of providing health care services for underinsured and uninsured individuals – is run by a team of volunteers, including providers, nurses, pharmacists and health care professions students, inside the Kountze Commons Community Outreach Center. 

Each Thursday from 4 to 6 p.m., about 30-35 patients are seen in exam rooms in the Methodist Community Health Clinic, which is part of Kountze Commons. 

‘Eager to get involved’

Co-led by retired cardiologists Michael Dehning, MD, and Kiran Gangahar, MD, free cardiology services are provided twice a month at the Healing Gift Free Clinic. 

“After you practice for 40 years, it’s tough to just quit all at once,” Dr. Dehning said. “And there is a very large need.”

Thanks to Methodist Hospital Foundation and its generous donors, an echocardiography machine – used to complete ultrasounds of the heart – was purchased for the Methodist Community Health Clinic. Echocardiograms are completed during the Healing Gift Free Clinic using the same equipment.

Since February 2024, Bouckaert has worked with Drs. Dehning and Gangahar to ensure that echocardiogram services are available each week they see patients. A trained sonographer from NMC or Methodist Hospital and an NMC student are at the clinic one Thursday a month, while a sonographer and student from the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) are there the other Thursday.

“When Dr. Dehning approached me about supporting the sonography portion of the clinic, I was eager to get involved,” Bouckaert said. “Since ultrasound is such a specialized skill, it's rare to find opportunities that combine hands-on practice with physician oversight. Our students not only refine their technical abilities, but they also gain valuable insights by listening to the cardiologists’ interactions with patients.”

Dr. Gangahar – who provided cardiology services at UNMC for more than a decade – knows that students volunteering at the clinic receive an invaluable experience. 

“They’re excited to be here because it’s an unpressured environment,” she said. “They also get one-on-one time with a physician. We’re able to show them what we’re looking at and what’s important to us.”

‘We enjoy being here’

During a typical cardiology clinic, two or three patients are seen by Dr. Dehning or Dr. Gangahar. The patients are referred to them by other providers at the Healing Gift Free Clinic or through a partnership with OneWorld Community Health Centers that was established to help meet the needs of its underinsured patients.

Primary care providers from the Healing Gift Free Clinic or OneWorld work with either Margaret Lee or Susie Sandstrom – retired nurses who now volunteer at the Healing Gift Free Clinic – to schedule cardiology appointments, exchange necessary health information and ensure the patients receive the care they need. 

“It’s just one of those things that you’re thankful to be a part of it,” said Lee, who previously worked with Dr. Gangahar at UNMC. “And the patients are extremely appreciative.”

Echocardiograms are completed on every patient seen at the clinic. 

While they would like to be seeing more patients, Drs. Dehning and Gangahar are pleased with what they’ve been able to provide.

“It’s baby steps, but it seems like it’s working,” Dr. Gangahar said. “We enjoy being here. It’s a great community.”

Essential community relationships

Linda Specht Trainer, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, LCCE, CLC, PMH-C, knows that access to health care is a significant barrier for people who are underinsured or uninsured. As a volunteer provider and chairman of the board for the Healing Gift Free Clinic, Specht Trainer believes in the importance of the clinic’s partnerships with the Methodist Community Health Clinic, NMC, UNMC and other health entities in Omaha.

“If we can forge those relationships, it’s not only a great benefit for us, but also for the whole community,” she said. “Students get to learn, our patients get taken care of and the whole community realizes better health outcomes in the end for a patient population where access can be an issue.”

When crews were breaking ground for the Kountze Commons Community Outreach Center, retired Methodist nephrologist Jerry Fischer, MD – the lead physician at the Healing Gift Free Clinic – worked with Steve Goeser, Methodist Health System’s president and CEO, and Josie Abboud, Methodist’s executive vice president, to inquire about sharing clinic space that was being built for the Methodist Community Health Clinic. 

The two clinics have shared exam rooms since Kountze Commons opened in 2017. 

“Not one person can fill the financial or resources gap,” said Maria Douthett, APRN, who provides services at the Methodist Community Health Clinic. “As a partnership, it’s just much easier to bear the extreme need that the community has.”

Specht Trainer – who has been involved with the Healing Gift Free Clinic since fall of 2018 – said that the most impactful part of being involved with the clinic is when patients express their appreciation.

“The people who volunteer here are amazing. It’s like a family, and we all get a bit of therapy coming here,” she said. “But in the end, it’s about making a difference in the lives of people who may feel unseen, uncared for or lonely.”