Jobless swell clinic's rolls
Posted on Mon, Dec. 02, 2002
MORE SPACE NEEDED IN MTN. VIEW TO SERVE UNINSURED
By Truong Phuoc Khánh
Mercury News
Every layoff in Silicon Valley leaves not only one more unemployed worker but also one more unemployed worker without medical insurance. As the jobless ranks grow, one free health care clinic in Mountain View -- traditionally the medical refuge for the working poor -- is seeing white-collar workers filing into its waiting room.
They come in for flu shots, cold medicine or a prescription for high-blood pressure. As is true at all nine RotaCare clinics in the Bay Area, the visits are free. The Mountain View clinic, which operates on a shoestring budget of $250,000 aided by a cadre of volunteer doctors, nurses and translators, is looking for another, larger facility to serve the growing uninsured population.
``There's always been an uninsured immigrant population,'' said Dr. Erica Weirich, a family practitioner who donates her time to treat RotaCare patients once or twice a month. ``But recently, things have changed. We're definitely seeing much more of a mix -- individuals who have lost their medical coverage because they've been laid off.''
The first RotaCare clinic was formed by a local Rotary Club in Santa Clara in 1989 to provide free medical care to those without access to medical services.
The bulk of those who visit the clinic in Mountain View are immigrants and the working poor who labor in service-industry jobs without health benefits.
While Spanish is still dominant, a more diverse mix of languages can be heard at the clinic recently, from Farsi to Chinese to Russian.
``It's like the U.N. in our waiting room,'' said Barbara Avery, manager of outreach medical services for El Camino Hospital, a collaborator and sponsor of RotaCare. ``You're out of work for a year, things get very, very tight, and you're sick. To go to a doctor for a medical visit may be more than they can afford.''
Nicole Patakova, 39, worked as a quality controller for a technology company until six months ago.
``Good job, good pay,'' she said.
Her husband, also laid off from an electronics company this year, was recently diagnosed with high blood pressure. The couple came in the night before Thanksgiving.
Patakova said she felt uncomfortable being there.
``I've never used something like this,'' Patakova said. ``I've always worked in my life, and I've never needed help like this.''
Weirich recalled two nights earlier when a young man came to the clinic with a similar story.
``He'd been laid off, and he was actually there with a common problem, an infected ingrown toenail,'' Weirich said. ``And he was really embarrassed to be there. He said he used to have a personal doctor.''
Before 5 p.m. Wednesday, the waiting room was full. Mothers with young children. Senior citizens. Young couples who are pregnant.
Alongside first-timers such as Patakova were regulars who struggle with chronic ailments like diabetes and heart disease. Isabel Torres, 30, has been coming for six years to keep her diabetes manageable. Giovanni Arriola, 23, arrived in the Bay Area two months ago from El Salvador and had an earache.
The all-volunteer staff for the evening: two doctors, two nurses, one nurse practitioner, one nursing student, one medical assistant, one pharmacist and three Spanish translators.
Some services provided at the clinic are immunizations, tuberculosis testing, pregnancy testing, treatment for high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma, free medications and children's physicals.
A major sponsor for the clinic is the Peninsula Community Foundation, but a one-year grant is running out and the clinic is seeking additional support to help it secure a long-term lease elsewhere.
RotaCare benefits not just those who walk through its doors, Avery said, but also the community at large.
``We don't want emergency rooms flooded with patients coming in with an earache,'' Avery said. ``You don't want to eat a salad prepared by a worker who has TB.''