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PARTNERS IN CARE
Trinity UMC opens door to Emmanuel Group
Founders feel they serve God by serving people through health and social services.
YOUNGSTOWN — “When we serve you, we serve Him” stands as the motto for Good Shepherd Community Doctor’s Office, a health clinic that recently opened on the third floor of Trinity United Methodist Church, 30 W. Front St.
The clinic is under the umbrella of the Emmanuel Group, which was founded by Brenetta Geddis and Yvette Thornton. The Web site, www.emmanuelgroup.com, notes it provides “health care and social service to those in need through specialized partnership of doctors and community service leaders.”
Geddis and Thornton have joined their faith and career backgrounds in the project. The clinic and Emmanuel Group are the nonprofit sides. Geddis, who has 21 years’ experience in social service having worked at an area agency, also operates Genuine Care Corp. Emmanuel Group will offer services in Mahoning and Trumbull counties and the surrounding area. Thornton, a registered nurse for some 20 years, operates Gilead Health Services.
When people come for services, it’s about care, not conversion. “It doesn’t what faith you are, you’ll see our faith,” Thornton said. “We see God as a partner in care ... helping us to provide these services.
Both are members of Christian Revival Discipleship Center East in Akron, with Pastors Ken and Leta Paramore.
The two women have known each other for years and worshipped together. “The melting pot was us as Christian believers,” Geddis said.
They credited their pastor with “evoking something within them.”
Geddis said she felt God spoke to her. “I want to live according to the word of God,” she said. “With God, nothing is impossible.”
And, she added, “God has opened doors for us.”
That was in June 2008 when Geddis and Thornton met with the Rev. Stephen T. Sparling, pastor of Trinity UMC. “He’s a blessing for the people,” Thornton said. The church is providing the space for the project.
Geddis and Thornton said the Rev. Mr. Sparling blessed the office in the church. Because of the church’s downtown location, the women said it is easily accessible on bus lines and for people at the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley and St. Vincent de Paul.
“We feel it is part of our mission to meet the needs and serve the community,” Mr. Sparling said. “Methodists historically have been involved in health-care needs.
“It’s about the total person .. body, soul, mind and spirit.”
“It’s all about service. If we don’t do anything else, we want to serve the people,” Geddis said.
Geddis and Thornton said they believe their service to people in turn serves God.
Thornton said her interest in health care goes back to serving as a candy striper. “It’s been a natural part of me,” she said. “It’s been a natural evolution to what God wanted us to do.”
Thornton, who said she has always had an entrepreneural spirit, said she took the name Gilead from the Bible and Jeremiah 8:22. The passage reads, “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? When then has the health of my poor people not been restored?”
“When God speaks, there is a veracity,” Thornton said.
Both women said they felt their projects were “more than jobs, but a mission.”
Good Shepherd Community Doctor’s Office serves those who are uninsured or underinsured in Youngstown and the surrounding areas. Physicians volunteer their services; currently assisting the clinic are Drs. Charles Wilkins, Martin Escobar and Manish Joshi.
Hours of operation are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, by appointment only. Call (330) 782-2800 or (888) 322-1931. Patients should enter the church through the door closest to Market Street, which is designated Trinity office building in the stonework.
Geddis’ Genuine Care provides services for people with mental retardation and developmental disabilities and special needs such as autism. These services include integrating clients in social outings and providing homes to people that may need shelter and respite care.
Gilead Health Services is a full-service home health agency with RNs and licensed practical nurses who, in part, do IV therapy, wound care, dialysis care and home health aid services. It is Medicaid-certified agency. Thornton said Gilead provides holistic care to enhance well-being mentally, physically and spiritually. The agency also offers information on how to achieve good health through education and counseling.