My mother, Anita Ruff, started working at Oasis Free Clinics as the Executive Director on Boxing Day when I was in fifth grade. I began volunteering for Oasis within a few months (although voluntarily might be a more accurate description in some cases).
Over the years, I’ve helped with a variety of tasks, from packing thank-you letters to donors into envelopes to combing through decades of patient records for data to checking guests in at a garden for Oasis’ first Brunswick in Bloom garden tour in 2022. I’ve watched my mom find herself in this role, going through trial and error at fundraisers and figuring out how to best lead her team of skilled staff and volunteers.
Since I was ten, I’ve listened to her talk about the Bowdoin College students who have volunteered with her or even gotten a McKeen Center Fellowship and spent the entire summer working with her one-on-one. I’ve learned tips and tricks about what works and what doesn’t (don’t show up to work in a t-shirt and shorts) and understood what makes a student stand out. There are some students whose names I never learned, and some we still talk about fondly at dinner. I was taught to aspire to be like them.
So I was excited—and a little stressed—when one day during my freshman year of college, while I was making summer plans, my mom suggested that I be her intern that summer. She didn’t have a big enough project for a Bowdoin student, but still needed help with the small tasks that keep the clinic running, as well as a few larger projects.
My days at Oasis were filled with Excel spreadsheets, Canva and Facebook and bags full of materials for Brunswick in Bloom. If you followed Oasis on social media, you probably saw posts I made, or if you took the garden tour, you received a sticker I sorted. I tracked data including volunteer hours and patient use of our voice line, and fixed small errors in large databases of our patients and donors. In short, I filled in the gaps at Oasis, making sure the little things worked so the big things worked too.
My greatest learning moments, however, were not related to Excel spreadsheets. My projects took me all over the office, where I interacted with our different employees and understood what they do through the tasks they assigned me. What I experienced was an unbreakable connection.
In high school, I was able to immerse myself in a community of just a few dozen people. When I returned to Brunswick, I wondered if the lessons I learned there—from the tragedy of the commons to the pros and cons of making decisions as a group—were applicable to larger communities.
My time at Oasis has shown me that even though it’s hard to see how each individual member of a larger community impacts the whole, there are micro-communities everywhere. Oasis is one of them. I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing the people behind this important safety net working seamlessly together to ensure our patients continue to receive quality care. When one member of staff is absent, others step in so there’s no gap.
At Oasis, every person is deeply valued—a factor ensured by resources that are more limited than in a traditional medical or dental practice. There is no one in excess here. When even one person leaves, their absence is felt by the others. The clinic is defined by its people. There is a strong culture of caring among staff, not only for patients, but for each other. My mother said today, “Part of (her) job is chatting with her colleagues.” Time is spent every day building community and trust within this team, and the care they feel for each other is reflected in the care they give to patients.
Oasis has given me the small community I miss and also a greater understanding of how communities with thousands of people depend on each individual. Brunswick is made up of many micro-communities like Oasis and the other members of the Core Four – Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program, Tedford Housing and The Gathering Place. Each individual plays a key role in the culture we cultivate and the atmosphere we maintain. Oasis is just one force in making Brunswick and the surrounding areas a more welcoming and caring community.
Calla Ruff is a summer intern at Oasis Free Clinics, a nonprofit, free primary care medical office and dental clinic that provides patient-centered care to uninsured adults in Freeport, Durham, Harpswell, Brunswick, and Sagadahoc County. For more information, visit OasisFreeClinics.org or call (207) 721-9277. Giving Voice is a weekly collaboration of local nonprofit service agencies to share information and stories about their work in the community.
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