Inside the Safety Net
with a taste test. “¡Me gusta!” one woman exclaims to another after spearing a bite of vegetables with a fork. A chorus of Spanish erupts. It’s Tuesday evening and things at Volunteers in Medicine are, literally, heating up.
Wafts of grilled veggies drift throughout the clinic from the conference room where a colorful, party-like scene is unfolding. Translators volley questions back and forth from the dozen Hispanic adults to the class coordinators. The students tonight are VIM clients enrolled in a free series of classes to learn how to manage their diabetes, a condition that frequently brings them into the clinic. A discussion of where to buy vegetables and how to sauté them at home ensues.
Meanwhile, a small cluster of children play with plastic toys on the waiting room floor at the feet of parents. Volunteer Judy Kampman, a woman with snow-colored hair and a long denim skirt, greets the children while making sure each one receives a book to take home, hand-selected by Kampman.
In a small office on the backside of the clinic, Felip Ramos, a physician’s assistant student, asks for advice after recounting some puzzling symptoms of a patient waiting in an exam room. Co-medical director Bob Hakala, MD, dressed casually in jeans and a polo shirt, leans back in his chair and suggests further diagnostic questions. Both men conclude that more lab tests are necessary.
Clinic hours run late on Tuesdays so patients can schedule appointments in the evening. Just about every person working in the clinic this evening, as well as on any given day, is a volunteer. It is this donated time, energy, and expertise that keeps this clinic, which serves low-income Deschutes County residents, up and running.
VIM offers primary care to patients, extending free mental health, dental and vision services as well as prescription drug support to its patients. As of its five-year anniversary in April, VIM had treated more than 6,000 people in the community, logging over 31,000 patient visits and 109,000 volunteer hours. The clinic’s mission is to provide medical care to the uninsured, a population that represents almost a fifth of all Oregonians. Specifically VIM targets the large group of people who make too much for government insurance programs like Medicaid, but not enough to afford private insurance.
As a safety net for some of Deschutes County’s working poor, VIM provides free services to residents who fall between the ever widening cracks in the health care system – services that rely solely on the goodwill of volunteers. And even as Congress debates a plan to overhaul the current system to provide more coverage to all Americans, the ongoing recession has highlighted the need to provide – at least for time being – an alternative to the pay to play system. It’s also underscored that the current system isn’t working for many Americans who, often through no fault of their own, aren’t able to access basic health care. It’s a national problem that is playing out in community clinics, hospital emergency rooms, and living rooms all across America.
Download full article here
