Linda has been with Mission of Mercy since the organization’s inception in 1994, first serving as a member of the National Board of Directors and then as the organization’s executive director.  Linda was born and raised in Lancaster County and has a strong affinity for Central Pennsylvania.  She currently lives in Westminster, MD. 

 

 

Mission of Mercy was initially founded in 1992 by Arizona pharmacist Dr. Gianna Talone.  Gianna responded to a “spiritual call” to restore dignity to the poor and broken. Since her professional career had for several years been in the medical field as a clinical pharmacist, it seemed only natural to her to reach out to the poor and broken through medical care.  Her initial efforts in Arizona were met with many obstacles and in 1994 she met and married Dr. Mike Sullivan and they moved to Evansburg, PA where they together re-launched Mission of Mercy. After establishing a three-year track record in Maryland and Pennsylvania, Mission of Mercy expanded to Phoenix, Arizona in 1997 and, to Texas in 2007.
 

For more than 25 years, Mission of Mercy has been providing free healthcare, free dental care and free medications to the uninsured, underinsured and those who “fall through the cracks” of our healthcare system. Since 1994, Mission of Mercy served more than 43,000 patients who have visited the clinics over 217,000 times, dispensed more than 403,000 medications.

With the support of 220 mission-driven, medical and non-medical volunteers, Mission of Mercy operates both a mobile medical and a mobile dental clinic. Churches provide host sites for the mobile clinics in Taneytown, Reisterstown, Brunswick and Frederick in Maryland and Gettysburg and Harrisburg in Pennsylvania.  In Gettysburg, Mission of Mercy currently operates from Four Square Church.  Hospitals in each service area provide free lab work and x-rays for Mission of Mercy patients.  In Adams County, these services are provided by Wellspan Gettysburg Hospital.

Churches provided a warm welcoming environment for Mission of Mercy patients.  In Adams County, Mission of Mercy operates two vehicles, a medical van and a dental van.  Both are state of the art costing upwards of $400,000.  The vans are housed at Mount St. Mary’s University and travel between six clinic sites in PA and MD.  The medical van is equipped to provide primary care and diagnose and treat conditions ranging from acute to chronic illnesses. The dental van is equipped with three dental chairs, two of which are operatories and the third is utilized as a prep chair.  In Adams County, Mission of Mercy has treated over 5,000 patients with chronic health issues, providing over 22,000 visits to this population.

 

Adams and York County Community Health Needs Assessment documented that 64% of people have dental insurance while 36% do not.  Many seniors do not have dental care as well as service men and women not injured in battle and students with no insurance.  Mission of Mercy provides dental services to these and other individuals who are deemed to have “fallen through the cracks.”  The ALICE report, an acronym that stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, and Employed documented that there are over 11,000 people in Adams County who do not qualify for medical assistance but can’t afford health insurance.  These individuals are considered to be the working poor and are either uninsured & under insured.   Mission of Mercy provides services to many of these individuals.

 

Mission of Mercy does not accept government funding, a policy that enables them to care for anyone without having to document eligibility. All funding is provided by private contributions from individuals, foundations, corporations, service organizations, churches, special events, and more. Mission of Mercy is a registered charity and is a 501(c) (3) organization. All donations are tax deductible. Every penny raised in Adams County stays in Adams County.  For every $1 spent on Mission of Mercy services, the return on investment to the community is $12. 

Beyond donations, Linda encouraged Rotarians to invite health care practitioners (doctors, dentists, oral surgeons, specialists, nurses, physical therapists, etc.) to consider volunteering one day a month to providing services for Mission of Mercy patients.  Linda also invited Rotarians to spend an hour taking a guided tour of the clinic, where you’ll have an opportunity to see first-hand the compassionate care rendered by the staff and hear from the dedicated medical professionals and non-medical volunteers who serve them.  To schedule a tour, please contact Linda at lryan@amissionofmercy.org.   Here is a link to the video that Linda was not able to show during the meeting https://www.amissionofmercy.org/maryland-pennsylvania/videos/.