Beat the Clock

"It's in my blood to work first, and play later," says Nancy Lascheid, who founded the Naples Health Clinic in 1998 with her husband, Bill Lascheid. As president of the clinic, a job she does as a volunteer, she says, "I put 26 hours into 24. You have to be very organized to do those 'later' things."

The nonprofit Naples Health Clinic provides affordable medical care to low-income, uninsured adults in Collier County. It runs on the immense volunteer support of the Lascheids, along with 500 volunteers and five salaried positions, two of which are underwritten by the United Way.

Always on the go, hosting meetings, tours, and supervising the clinic, Lascheid wears many hats. "I am still in the habit of laying out my clothes each night, because I frequently change clothes several times during the day," she says. "I carry a mini office in my car: stockings, earrings, a white uniform, toothbrush and lab coat."

Describing herself as a list-maker, Lascheid says that every night she writes down what has to be done the next

day, splitting it into three categories: "priorities"; "if I have time" and "think about it." She has stern advice about managing interruptions. "The phone is for my convenience, not the caller. I don't always answer my phone. I complete what I am doing before I pick it up," she says.

But don't think this busy woman isn't connected. "I'm into the electronic communication age," she says. "E-mail is my saving grace. It's super because it's short, quick and at my convenience."

While she relies on her e-mail and cell phone, she notes that "it is important to know when to take your phone off the hook, shut off the computer, think about it and then do it."

Lascheid credits her ability to do so much to sharing duties with her husband. "Every Sunday afternoon, we go over our calendars together, delegating responsibilities," she says. "For us, this is a partnership, we do this job together and frequently the responsibilities we each have, the other can fulfill."