Warren Scott A MISSION TO HELP — Ann Quillen, executive director of the Ohio Valley Health Center in Steubenville, stands next to an echocardiogram machine, one of many pieces of equipment she has worked with others to obtain to better serve area residents who lack financial resources for their medical care.

STEUBENVILLE — At her office in the Ohio Valley Health Center, Ann Quillen pointed to a painting of North Fourth Street by local artist Dave Barnhouse.

She noted the center’s original location on North Fourth Street can’t be seen, but she likes to think of it being represented by a small burst of light in the distance, a symbol of the hope the free health clinic has provided to the many who have entered its doors.

Quillen, who will be stepping down soon as the center’s director, is pleased that the center, now located at 423 South St., has been able to accommodate more than 30,000 patient visits since it opened in 2008.

She said those patients — who have come from many areas of Jefferson County and beyond — otherwise would not have received medical care because they lacked insurance coverage and, in some cases, might have died.

She said last year alone, the center provided $1.7 million in free medical care, including 3,477 patient visits and 4,470 prescriptions.

Quillen noted it will be the second time she has retired as the director of the center, which serves the area’s uninsured and underinsured residents. She stepped down for the first time in 2015.

“This is my second attempt,” she joked.

Quillen explained the position had become open in the midst of the pandemic and in June 2020, she was asked if she would be interested in returning.

“COVID did a number on nonprofit organizations,” she said, noting while the center never stopped providing services, its doors were closed for a time.

Quillen had come to the health center in 2008 when the Rev. Bruce Hitchcock, then executive director of the Steubenville-based Urban Mission Ministries, approached her about heading it.

She had taken time off from a career in nursing to raise her children, and the youngest of three sons had entered school, when Hitchcock told her, “I think I have the perfect job for you,” she recalled.

Quillen and her husband, the Rev. Clint Quillen, both East Canton natives, had come to the Ohio Valley when Cint became pastor of Amsterdam United Methodist Church.

“Really we’d been in the valley for 35 years,” said Quillen, noting Clint later took on a ministry through Wintersville Methodist Church that continues today.

Quillen said she came to the director’s position with a background in fundraising and experience in writing Sunday school curricula that she managed to apply to numerous grant proposals.

She stressed for each application, she sought input from medical personnel close to the center and from her husband, who offered constructive criticism and a layman’s point of view.

She said her husband of 41 years also has been a valuable sounding board and source of encouragement.

Quillen said the center’s growth has been all about teamwork, with various teams performing separate functions that have made it a success.

She said the teams include a dependable staff at the center, including her administrative assistant of 13 years, Connie Buydasz; its volunteer medical director; and other medical providers who have volunteered their services.

“They come here because they feel called to serve others,” said Quillen.

She added there’s also a team of volunteer office workers that has stuffed thousands of envelopes and performed other tasks.

“It’s not glamorous work but it’s vital and it’s appreciated,” said Quillen.

She also acknowledged the team that lends its time and energy to organizing an annual gala benefiting the center, often raising more than $50,000 — about a third of the clinic’s budget.

With a Roaring ’20s theme, inspired by the center’s 20th anniversary, this year’s event will be held April 26 at St. Florian Event Center in Wintersville.

And Quillen expressed appreciation for “a dedicated board of directors that has made sound decisions for the clinic and its future.”

“What a great team to be a part of,” she said.

Quillen added it was former director Trudy Wilson who led a very successful capital improvement campaign that paved the way for renovations to a former daycare center that now houses the clinic.

But Quillen has done much, with help from others and grants from various sources, to fill it with equipment not found at most medical clinics.

That includes materials for on-site lab tests for high cholesterol, diabetes and other chronic health conditions and a machine used to produce an echocardiogram, a moving image of a patient’s heart, through non-invasive measures.

Obtained last year, it helps the clinic’s medical personnel to diagnose heart disease and help a patient to prevent stroke and other life-threatening heart conditions ,but often is cost-prohibitive for patients without insurance.

It was purchased through two funding sources: The Charles M. and Thelma M. Pugliese Foundation and the Community Foundation for the Ohio Valley’s River Valley Health Fund.

Quillen said the center provides essential medical care to an at-risk population, including, but not limited to, local residents of minority groups.

She said Black men are 70 percent more likely to develop prostate cancer while Black women are 40 percent more likely to die from breast cancer.

She noted both can be treated if detected early, and the clinic is able to help those who otherwise are unlikely to seek such help because of their financial situation.

Quillen said since she was a teen, she felt called to serve God.

But she admitted that as a nursing student at Canton City Nursing School, she never expected the path she ultimately followed.

“This is the best nursing job I never knew I wanted,” said Quillen.

“I still have great passion for the work we do here,” she said.

Asked why she is leaving, Quillen said, “I think leadership means knowing when it’s time to make room for somebody else.”

She said new leadership, with new energy and new ideas, is often beneficial to an organization.

Looking back on her tenure with the clinic, she said, “I’ve really been blessed. Being director of the Ohio Valley Medical Center has been one of the greatest honors of my life.”

The center’s board of directors has started a search for a new director and has set an application deadline for 3 p.m. March 20.

(Scott can be contacted at wscott@heraldstaronline.com.)