Holiday Fund: Family Health Center promotes wellness, provides health care Holiday Fund: Family Health Center promotes wellness, provides health care (December 07, 2005)

By Marion Softky

Almanac Staff Writer

Last Wednesday was a double red-letter day at the Ravenswood Family Health Center.

On November 30, the startup clinic in south San Mateo County celebrated four years of bringing medical services to the troubled communities of East Palo Alto, eastern Menlo Park, and North Fair Oaks.

The same day, CEO Luisa Buada accepted title to a mobile clinic van from the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital along with a grant of $150,000 a year to operate the van for three years.

"It's now officially ours," says Ms. Buada triumphantly.

The van with two examination rooms has been visiting Belle Haven School in Menlo Park twice a week to serve students and their families. It's now in the shop being refurbished.

In January, the spruced-up van will be out in the community five days a week, giving health services where they are needed. It will be visiting schools for two days, spending two days at the tiny Belle Haven Clinic, and one day a week, it will visit parks to serve people living on the street, who have huge medical needs.

"Getting them here can be difficult," Ms. Buada says.

Back at the clinic, the waiting room is always packed, even late in the day. Half a dozen kids buzz around between the baby carriages, and scrawl with crayons at the low table. Pregnant mothers gather for a prenatal clinic; across the way, mothers and kids dribble in for a six-month Weight Loss Program.

"We're four years old today," says Ms. Buada. "We've gone from an infant, startup to an adolescent organization. And we're constantly growing."

The numbers are impressive. The center is open 56 hours a week. It has over 12,600 patients, more than a quarter of the residents of East Palo Alto, and 1,100 from Belle Haven.

"We are adding 30 new patients a day on average," says Ms. Buada.

These are mostly people with very low income and great medical needs. Over 87 percent are Latino, African-American or Pacific Islander; 60 percent have no health insurance; 65 percent have limited English; 90 percent of adults have no dental insurance; and 43 percent are children under 13.

These people are poor and getting poorer. Ninty-seven percent of the center's patients have incomes less that 200 percent of the federal poverty level, which is $36,000 for a family of four, says Ms Buada. In 2004, it was 92 percent.

"It's getting worse," she says.
Partnerships

The Ravenswood center provides a dizzying array of services, most through partnerships with medical, governmental, philanthropic and community organizations in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.

Besides providing primary and preventive health services, including dental care, to anyone who needs them, the center features a number of outreach and educational programs to deal with the special needs of its population.

The federally funded Health Disparities Program focuses on chronic diseases associated with poverty, which are particularly severe among the center's clients. These include diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, asthma, and depression.

"These health disparities are real," says Ms. Buada. "Diabetes is extraordinarily high."

"Get Fit EPA," a community collaborative to promote healthy living, drew more than 600 people to its launch party in October. The health center is coordinating 14 partners and numerous community organizations in a campaign to promote healthy eating and physical exercise in the culturally diverse community.

The center is also preparing for emergencies or disasters. It's been training staff, collecting emergency supplies and equipment, and participating in drills.

"Since Katrina, everyone realizes we're not ready," says Ms. Buada. "We are the only health center this side of the freeway. We are potentially responsible for managing medical care."
Looking ahead

For the near future, the center needs more space. It may be able to move its administrative offices to available space nearby, and expand its medical facilities, Ms. Buada says. It is also in discussions with San Mateo County to expand medical services at the Belle Haven Clinic to include pediatrics and family medicine.

In a couple of years, Ms. Buada hopes to find a new location and build a new building to share with other nonprofits and county social services. "It's a medical mall concept," she says.

Meanwhile, the health center needs help to balance its $5.9 million budget. With 25 percent coming from a federal grant, and 37 percent from patient and insurance payments, it still needs to raise $2.2 million from private sources.

"We have $1.45 million committed to date," says Ms. Buada. "We've still got a way to go."
Ravenswood Family Health Center, 1798A Bay Road, East Palo Alto, CA 94303. Call 330-7400, or go to ravenswoodfhc.org.

** HOLIDAY FUND

Contributions to the Almanac's Holiday Fund help the Ravenswood Family Health Center.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.