Above: Kate Vinzani is a nurse practitioner who volunteered in Asheville with St. Joseph Primary Care.
Dr. ThuHuong Trinh met Jesus in the parking lot of a shopping center. He was behind the wheel of a late-model truck and driving slowly. Trinh, a physician with St. Joseph Primary Care, was in a mobile medical van that had been temporarily donated.
They met in Spruce Pine - a western North Carolina town north of Black Mountain and just south of Linville Falls. The area was reeling from the devastation unleashed by Hurricane Helene across Avery, Mitchell, and Yancey counties.
Dr. Trinh waved, walked up to the truck, and asked the driver if he needed anything. He was disheveled and complained that his foot hurt when he walked. She explained she wasn’t a foot doctor, but invited him into the van, where she and Kate Vinzani, a nurse practitioner, got to work.
Turns out the man had been camping in an abandoned house when Helene hit. A rock-hard callous had grown over the stump of a previously amputated toe and was causing his pain.
Dr. Trinh went into the Walmart on Halltown Road, and bought a straight-blade razor, which she used to whittle down the callous. She trimmed his nails while Vinzani trimmed his hair.
They showed him where a mobile unit across the parking lot offered hot showers, and he left, walking without pain.
Recalling Jesus’ words in Matthew 25:40, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me,” Vinzani said, "We met Jesus today.”
With the help of nine doctors, two nurses, and one nurse practitioner, St. Joseph Primary Care provided non-urgent care to 117 people during six trips to the Asheville area in 2024. Together they visited Linville, Newland, Spruce Pine and Green Mountain.
The medical team said Jesus came to them in many guises from police officers, Christmas tree farm workers and store employees to the elderly, the uninsured, those experiencing homelessness, crisis volunteers, and families with children.
The team treated injuries caused by cutting trees and clearing debris. Exposure to contaminated food and water caused intestinal issues, and breathing in mold and muck led to allergies and asthma, they said.
Many people needed prescriptions, tetanus shots, penicillin or insulin, but their doctors’ offices and pharmacies were closed.
Many patients had no insurance but needed basic medical care for conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes.
Both Vinzani, a parishioner at Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, and Dr. Trinh were struck by the gratitude evident among the people they met. The homeless man they treated was grateful for having been spared the worst of Helene. The abandoned building he camped in was still standing, and — despite having no running water or bathroom, and only blankets and a kerosene heater for warmth — he felt blessed given that so many others had lost everything.
Dr. Dan Koenig, a retired physician and volunteer with St. Jospeh, recalled meeting a young man who had helped pull bodies out of the river just a few days earlier.
“He said he lost basically everything, but nonetheless, he was continuing to help everybody around,” Dr. Koenig, a parishioner at St. Raphael the Archangel in Raleigh, said. “It really makes you stop and think about your own life and then look at these people who are struggling to live through this. It was a very humbling experience in some ways.”
Just being present in the face of suffering is as important as offering medical care, Dr. Trinh said, adding that those impacted are proud and self-sufficient, but have been through a lot.
“Each time I see a patient, there's a story to tell,” she said. “They don't complain about it, but it shows. It shows on their face. It shows in their sickness. But just by being there, I think people feel that someone still cares, and that's good for their mental health.”
For Vinzani, it’s the seemingly small things, such as listening and encouragement, that can be so important.
“It’s not all about dramatic change. Transformation … is a gradual process,” she said. “Sometimes it’s just propping up people, you know, saying ‘You have this.’”
The fact that she was even present was providential for Vinzani, who was scheduled to play in a bridge tournament in Charlotte when she was asked to join St. Joseph’s outreach to Spruce Pine. She had a bridge partner for two of the five days but despite her efforts, she couldn’t find another.
“Those three days opened up,” she laughed. Vinzani called to say she was available and, like the other volunteers, believed she received just as much as she gave.
“This is what God called us to do,” said Dr. Koenig.
Months on from Helene, the parking lot in Spruce Pine has mostly returned to normal. The emergency services once concentrated there are gone.
But people are still in need of winter clothes, blankets, propane and so much else. Cleanup will take a long time.
As larger communities open, St. Joseph Primary Care plans to return to Spruce Pine and more remote areas where services are still in short supply. They’ve raised $100,000 toward the purchase of their own medical van. And fundraising continues, they said.
At the time the magazine went to print in February of 2025, volunteer teams were expected back in the Walmart parking lot in Spruce Pine the second, third and fourth weekends in March 2025, and possibly other communities through October, depending on where needs are the greatest.
“If there's a need, I think we have the spirit to go,” Dr. Trinh said. “If one person feels the love from God through whatever I do, I say that's good enough for me.”
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