By Calla Ruff, Summer Intern, Oasis Free Clinics
My mother, Anita Ruff, began her work at Oasis Free Clinics as the executive director the day after Christmas when I was in fifth grade. I began volunteering for Oasis within a few months (though voluntold might be a more accurate description some cases).
Over the years, I’ve assisted with a wide variety of tasks, from helping stuff donor ‘thank you’ letters into envelopes to combing through decades of patient files for data to checking in guests at a garden for Oasis’ first Brunswick in Bloom garden tour in 2022. I’ve watched my mother come into her own in this role, going through trial and error in fundraising efforts and figuring out the best way to manage her team of skilled employees and volunteers.
Since the age of 10, 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 whole summer working one-on-one with her. I’ve picked up tips and tricks on what flies and what doesn’t (don’t show up to work in a T-shirt and shorts) and have come to understand what makes a student stand out. There are some students whose names I never learned, and some we still talk fondly of over the dinner table. I’ve been taught to strive to be like them.
Appropriately, I was excited — and a little stressed — when one day during my freshman year of college, while trying to sort out summer plans, my mother suggested that I be her intern this 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 couple larger projects.
My days at Oasis have been filled with Excel spreadsheets, Canva and Facebook, and bags brimming with materials for Brunswick in Bloom. If you’ve been following Oasis on social media, you’ve likely seen posts I’ve created, or if you attended the garden tour, you received a sticker I sorted out. I’ve been tracking data, including volunteer hoursand patient usage of our language line, as well as fixing small errors across big databases of our patients and donors. In short, I’ve been filling in the cracks of Oasis, ensuring that the small things work so the big things can too.
My biggest learning moments have not been in regard to Excel sheets, however. My projects have sent me bouncing around the office, interfacing with our various staff members and understanding what they do here through the jobs they assign me. What I’ve seen is unbreakable interconnectedness.
In high school, I got to immerse myself in an intentional community of just a few dozen people. When I returned home to Brunswick, I wondered how any of the lessons I learned — from the tragedy of the commons to thepros and cons of whole-group decision-making — applied to communities of bigger sizes.
What my time at Oasis has led me to understand is that even though it’s hard to see how every single member of a bigger community impacts the whole, there are micro-communities everywhere. Oasis is one of them. I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing how the people behind this critical safety net work together smoothly to ensure that our patients continue to receive high-quality care. When one staff member is out, others step up so no gap is left.
Every person at Oasis is deeply valuable — a factor ensured by resources more limited than at a traditional medical or dental practice. No one is here in excess. If even one person leaves, their absence is felt by the rest. The clinic is defined by its people. There is a strong culture of care among staff, not just towards patients but towards each other. My mother said today that, “Part of [her] job is being chatty” with her coworkers. Time is spent everyday building community and trust among this team, and the care they have for each other shows up in the care they give to patients.
Oasis has given me the tiny community I miss, as well as a better understanding of how communities of thousands of people depend on every single person. 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. Every single one plays a key role in the culture we keep and the atmosphere we maintain. Oasis is just one force driving Brunswick and the surrounding areas towards a more welcoming and caring community.
Calla Ruff is a summer intern at Oasis Free Clinics, a nonprofit, no-cost primary care medical practice and dental clinic, providing patient-centered care to uninsured adults living 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 among local nonprofit service agencies to share information and stories about their work in the community.
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