Annual Athletic Physical Screenings for New Hanover County

Public and Private School Athletes & Cheerleaders

For more years than anyone now living can remember, New Hanover-Pender County Medical Society physicians have donated their time to provide free athletic screening exams for thousands of local student athletes and cheerleaders.  So far as we know, 2020, due to COVID-19, is the only year that the screenings have had to be cancelled.  Numbers served, annually, have varied from 272 to 1076 students.

New Hanover Community Health Center

Medical Society physicians helped to establish the New Hanover Community Health Center. The Center, now called MedNorth, provides low-cost health care to New Hanover County residents.

Tileston Outreach Clinic Physician Volunteers

A group of physician volunteers welcome the opportunity to provide free health care, weekly, to this downtown outreach clinic.

UNCW Premedical Scholarship and Endowment

Since 1989 the Medical Society has awarded an annual premedical scholarship to a UNCW student. Recent Recipients: Andreas Wolfgang Linke, 2004; Monica L. Lassiter and Joseph Shane Martin, 2005 Co-Recipients; Laurie Bernice Meyer, 2006; Jacob Andrew Frady, 2007; Anton Travis Manasco, 2008; Ivan Alexander Alger, 2009; Colin Francis Nolan, 2010; Olga Anatolyevna Pylaeva, 2011; Danielle Lee Koch, 2012; Sophia Aravidis, 2013; Bennett William Mack, 2014; Elexis Monroe Hollingsworth, 2015; Lauren Elizabeth Moore, 2016; Blair Samantha Byrd, 2017; Alexander Hoffman, 2018; Lance Tiu, 2019; Joanmarie “JM” Lewandowski, 2020; Juliana Rose Testa, 2021.  $975 donated in 2020.

Donations

Wounded Warrior Project (2012), UNCW History Department’s Division of Jewish Studies (2012), Elizabeth P. Kanof, MD Leadership College Endowment (2012), Miracle Field (2011), Taylor Lammert’s Eagle Scout project of refurbishing the cemetery in which NC’s first known black physician with an MD Degree, Dr. James Francis Shober (1853-1889), is buried (2008), NHC Ability Garden (Adjustable Table, twice), Donation to Step Up for Soldiers (2015), Carousel Center, Safe Haven of Pender, Inc., a Domestic Violence Shelter, Pender County Health Department Foundation (2005),  Tileston Outreach Clinic (2006), Lower Cape Fear Literacy Council (2012), Domestic Violence Shelter and Services (2013) 2013:  Wilmington Police Department’s U-Turn Program 2014;  (2015); She ROCKS! (2016); The Ricciardelli Plastic Surgery Global Health Fund (2017); The Good Shepherd Center (2019)

Other Projects and In-Kind Help

Committees on Aging, Health Care Access.  Help with Public Schools’ Human Growth and Development Classes (Ongoing); Donation of 6 CPR Mannequins/12 Tee Shirts to Public Schools (1999); Radio PSA on Importance of Immunization Against Influenza, 2013; Health Articles in all StarNews Health and Medical Supplements, 2014; Health articles in all four StarNews Health and Medical Supplements, 2015; Health articles in twelve of the StarNews Health and Medical Supplements, 2014; Radio PSAs on NSAID-induced Renal Failure, 2014; Radio PSA announcing the opportunity for Free Athletic Screening Exams for athletes and cheerleaders; Health articles in StarNews (12 in 2020).

In 2007, began ongoing project to raise $50,000 to build a Habitat for Humanity House. (Raised $20,400 for Habitat in 2007. Up to $30,500 on December 31, 2008; Completed Funding + with $5,000 donation in December 2009; Physically Participated in Building the House, April-August 2010.  The house was dedicated August 15, 2010.

Other Past Activities: Mini-Internship, Health Fair, Benefit Basketball Game, Newspaper Columns: “Physician on Call” and “Ask a Doctor”, twice, Monthly.

New Hanover County (Wilmington) was birthplace and home to the well-known physician and botanist who founded the North Carolina State Board of Health and The North Carolina Medical Journal: Dr. Thomas Fanning Wood (1841-1892).  Due to his outstanding work with children and public health, the New Hanover County Health Department Clinic is named for Dr. Frank Russell Reynolds (1920-2017).