Page 27 - Ravenswood Family Health Center

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Ravenswood Family
Health Center
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quality
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Committed to providing the
Dear Friends,
As Ravenswood Family Health Center reaches
its 2nd birthday on December 17th, we’re proud of
what we’ve accomplished. The number of patients
doubled in the past year to 5,600 and we see twice
as many patients in a month than in our first year.
We’ve added new programs —comprehensive perinatal
services, an immunization clinic, outreach to
the homeless, and dental care for the uninsured.
We’re focusing on health education and prevention
to reduce dramatic health disparities that show up
in asthma, obesity and diabetes in our
community.Through the Lucile Packard Children’s
Hospital Teen Mobile Van, which comes twice a
month to our site, the clinic will be better able to
address adolescent needs. This winter we’re expanding
our hours to include at least two evenings
per week to accommodate those who work during
the day.
As we enter 2004, the stage is being set for the City
of East Palo Alto’s Ravenswood Redevelopment
project where the clinic is located. We’re already
working with partner organizations on space planning
for the future construction of a permanent facility.
In this season of giving and remembrance, on behalf
of the RFHC organization and our patients, I
would like to express our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation
to all of our supporters and contributors.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Luisa Buada, RN, MPH
Chief Executive Officer
Ravenswood Family Health Center
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Community medicine
Community medicine is a catalyst for people
who are willing to invest their medical skills
where they are most needed. In our patient population,
need and hardship are everyday stories heard
by the providers. A family of five lives on a minimum
wage income. A young woman is in an abusive relationship.
A grandmother is raising three grandchildren,
one of whom suffers from bouts with chronic asthma.
A young child has serious tooth decay from drinking
sugar water in a baby bottle. An uninsured adult will
have to have yet another tooth pulled if not treated.
Medical providers in a community clinic have to
master far more than medical texts can teach. Given
differences in language and culture, education and literacy,
not to mention complex psychosocial stresses,
providers have to be able to adapt to the cultural perspective
of the patient and then instruct, encourage,
and present a treatment plan that can be easily understood.
It’s the fine art of community medicine.
Larry Bruguera, M.D., the Medical Director, has been committed
to caring for disadvantaged populations for his entire career in
medicine. Spending summers in college volunteering for the
Farmworkers’ Union Clinics led him to a career in Family Medicine.
After receiving a medical degree from the University of
California, Davis, he went directly into medical directorship of
community clinics in Salinas and Watsonville. Following his residency
in Family Practice, he
moved to Half Moon Bay to a
private clinic. There he treated
people of all ages for seventeen
years, with an emphasis on caring
for farm laborers, nursery
and service workers. He served
as President of the medical
staff at Seton Coastside Hospital,
and as Medical Director
when Stanford acquired Coastside
Medical Clinic, helping it
through several transitions in
its affiliations. He joined the
Ravenswood staff in July 2003.
Jaime Chavarria, M.D., is a seasoned family practitioner
with varied medical experience. He completed medical
training at University of California San Diego Medical
School and was Chief Resident in Family Practice at
USC/California Medical Center. Following residency he
served the Hispanic population in East Los Angeles and
then worked as the director of a family practice group in a
multi-cultural community in downtown LA. At the same
time, he worked with a health care team to provide care to
men and women with HIV in East Los Angeles. Prior to
joining Ravenswood, he worked with San Jose Medical
Group for eight years caring for all ages.
Pamela Riley, M.D., was
predisposed to community
medicine even while attending
UCLA medical
school. Somehow she
found the time to mentor
minority schoolchildren,
encouraging them to see
the possibilities of a career
in medicine or science.
Dr. Riley joined our staff
in June 2003 following
completion of pediatric
residency at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. She was recruited
by Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and then we contracted
with LPCH for her to be our primary pediatrician. She plays a
dual role —pediatrician and preceptor to Stanford pediatric
residents who will develop their own panel of patients at the
clinic as one of their residency requirements. As the primary
pediatrician, she’s quickly learned that asthma and obesity are
major issues in the community. “Doctors deal on the individual
level with the parents, but it’s a community wide problem.
The problem is systemic in a society where overeating has become
the norm. In poorer communities, unhealthy options are
less expensive than healthy options.”
Partners in Health
Last year the tally of Americans without health insurance reached 41 million, with 7 million in California
“This is the most dramatic one-year increase in the number of
uninsured Americans in a nearly a decade.”
—Dr. Steven Shroeder, President,
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Seeing the need is one thing
A community clinic is a catchall. Pressing health needs
appear in the clinic every day. Pediatric obesity is alarming.
A rise in diabetes is evident. Lack of prenatal care
leads to low-birth weights. The stress of domestic abuse. A
significant increase in asthma. As the Surgeon General’s
Oral Health in America report noted: “A silent epidemic of
oral diseases is affecting our most vulnerable citizens-poor
children, the elderly, and many members of racial and ethnic
minority groups.”
As a community clinic, RFHC is positioned to implement
culturally effective solutions-but only with the help
of its collaborative partners that provide resources and key
support.
Health Disparities
Many people don’t realize how close to home health disparities
are in neighboring communities that are primarily populated by ethnic
minorities. Lack of health insurance and barriers to health access
reduce minorities’ use of preventive and medical treatments.
There is good cause for the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services
to designate the elimination of health disparities as the national
goal for the Healthy People 2010 Initiative.
Joint Partners in Health
• San Mateo County’s proactive Children’s Health Initiative
funds a Community Health Advocate that streamlines
enrollment for public health insurance through
Healthy Families, Healthy Kids and Medi-Cal. The clinic
has enrolled 880 in the past year.
• The County Health Services grant funds health care for
the homeless in collaboration with Free at Last, a community-based
recovery partnership.
• Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital contracts for pediatricians
at our clinic. Three pediatric residents come once a
week throughout their residency, and interns come on
community rotation.
• In 2004, RFHC will implement a pediatric obesity
weight loss education program under the guidance of Dr.
Tom Robinson. (Funded by SMC Community Access
Program).
• RFHC is a teaching partner site for Stanford School of
Medicine’s Center for Education in Family and Community
Medicine.
• Palo Alto Medical Foundation makes its excellent Community
Resource Center and health education materials
available to the clinic.
• RFHC works to improve asthma care in the community
in collaboration with East Palo Alto Asthma Taskforce,
led by Family Support Center and the Ravenswood
School District.
• Community Foundation Silicon Valley provided funding
to set the stage for a comprehensive prerinatal support
program for pregnant women.
• Peninsula Community Foundation’s donor-advised funders
have supported dental care for uninsured patients.
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Ravenswood Family Health Center

“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and
not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
—Constitution of the
World Health Organization
Partners in the pursuit of community health
Newsweek reported in a November
issue that scientists
are assessing the effect of
faith on health. Harvard Medical
School held a conference in November
on spirituality and health and the
National Institutes of Health commissioned
a series of papers on the
subject.
While scientists research the issue,
people in the community continue
to seek care from both the
church and the clinic. So RFHC invited
pastors to come to a luncheon
on November 14th to talk about the
health needs that they see among
their members.
For one thing, they said, men in
particular are reluctant to go in for
checkups. Rev. Floyd Purdy of
Faith Missionary Baptist Church
said that from the pulpit he counsels
them to be screened for
prostate cancer. Several mentioned
that depression is common. In response
to a discussion about available
resources for dealing with
mental problems, several pastors
offered to have patients referred to
them for counseling and support.
Union Star Baptist Pastor Helen
Brown said it would be valuable to
have a training for pastors about
helping people deal with cancer or
chronic illness.
Michael Levin, EPA.net
Rev. Mary Frazier of Bread of
Life, who has worked closely with
AIDS Community Research Consortium
and is the pastor for many
who are in recovery, said “Coming
together was a good idea. You’re
working to make this a real community
clinic.” Our thanks too to Rev.
Louise Earls of Church of God, Rev.
Fred Degree of Abundant Life, Rev.
Joseph Green of Unity Missionary
Baptist Church, Paul Teu of the
Tongan Christian Assembly of God,
Ola Augmon from Church of the
Living God, as well as Mary Ellen
Jones, David Lewis, co-founder of
Free at Last, and Assistant Director
for Public Health, John Conley.
Michael Levin, EPA.net
Statistically at greater risk
• Obesity and diabetes are significantly
more common
among people living at 200%
of federal poverty.*
• Teen pregnancy is highest
among Latino adolescents,
equivalent to one birth for
every 11 females. African-
Americans come in second
with one for every 17 adolescent
females.
• Pacific Islanders now have the
highest rate of infant mortality,
often due to inadequate
prenatal care.
• Death from asthma is four
times as common among
African American children.
• 2 to 4 children in every class
in East Palo Alto’s
Ravenswood School District
have asthma or asthma-like
symptoms.
• Children in low-income communities
are twice as likely to
have serious, untreated dental
disease.
• African American women are
more likely to die of breast
cancer than any other ethnic
group.
• Death from heart disease is
29% higher among African
Americans than whites, and
death from stroke is 30%
higher.
• 1 in 4 black women over the
age of 55 years of age has diabetes,
nearly twice the rate
of white women.
• Incidence of cervical cancer is
almost three times higher
among Latino women than
whites
• Immigrants account for 80%
of TB cases.
* Poverty Guidelines 2003: 100% poverty: annual income of $18,108/ family
of four. 200% poverty: annual income of $36,204/ family of four.
Health in the community
Mission statement
Ravenswood Family Health Center is committed to provide the highest
quality primary health services, delivered in a competent, caring, and culturally
sensitive manner, regardless of ability to pay.
Clinic services
Medical Services
• Pediatrics
• Well Child Checks
• Adolescent Health
• Adult Medical
• Immunizations
• Family Planning
• Asthma Care
• Chronic Disease Care
Screenings
• Blood Pressure
• Cancer
• Diabetes
• Hearing & Vision
Testing
• Hepatitis C/HIV/TB
Special Services
• Comprehensive Perinatal Care
• Dental Care (for uninsured )
• Health Education
• Laboratory Services
• Prescription Drugs
(discounted for uninsured)
Eligibility screening and enrollment for
Medi-Cal, Healthy Families or Healthy Kids insurance.
The clinic has 15 examining rooms, a lab, ultrasound
equipment, and a state-of-the-art patient
tracking and billing system. Next door to
it, the Community Resource Center houses
Family Support Center of the Mid-Peninsula, El
Concilio, New Perspectives, Nuestra Casa, an
affiliate of One East Palo Alto, and Connect
Family Resource Center.
Patient population
The clinic serves 5,600 patients from East
Palo Alto, Belle Haven, and North Fair Oaks in
Redwood City. The patient population has more
than doubled in the last 12 months. The majority
are African Americans, Latinos and Pacific
Islanders.
• 49% have no health insurance
• 90% of adults have no dental coverage
• 97% live at or below 200% of federal poverty
• 62% are females; 22% of whom are in their 20s
• 23% are 5 and under
Who are the uninsured?
In the County’s 2001 Behavioral Risk Factor
Survey, 21.2% of African American respondents
were uninsured, 17.7% Hispanics, and
10.4% Asian/Pacific Islanders. According to a
Kaiser Family Foundation study in 2000, the
rate of uninsured is at least twice as high for
African Americans and Latinos as for whites,
mainly due to the lack of employer-based coverage.
Financial Summary 2003-2004
Revenues
Expenditures
Patient Fees
Donations
Foundation
County
Contracts
Facility
Operations
Admin
z
Federal
Public Insurance
Salaries &
benefits
Ravenswood Family Health Center
1798A Bay Road
East Palo Alto, CA 94303
Tel. (650) 330-7400
Fax (650) 321-1156
Email: Ravenswood@rfhc.org
Ravenswood Family Health Center
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Thank you for the generosity of all our contributors ...
FUNDERS
San Mateo County Health Services
Bureau of Primary Health Care
SMC Healthy Community Access Program
San Mateo Medical Center
Health Care for the Homeless Program
Ryan White Planning
Foundations /Funders
California Endowment
California Wellness
Community Foundation Silicon Valley
Community Capital Investment Initiative
Jammy Heal Foundation
Kaiser Permanente
Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital
Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund
Peninsula Community Foundation
Donor Advised Funders
Anonymous
Channels Fund
Mary Lemmon Fund
Millstreet Fund
Webb Family Fund
San Francisco Foundation
Stanford University for
School of Medicine PriSMS Program
Tides Foundation
ANNUAL CAMPAIGN 2003
Friends of the Clinic Sponsor
Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital
Matching Challenge Grant of $25,000
Sobrato Family Foundation
Pacesetters
Gifts of $1,000
Luisa Buada
Dr. Cecil Reeves
Lisa & Matthew Sonsini Family Fund
Margaret Taylor & Floyd Gonella
SBC Communications
Donors to the Campaign
Anonymous lead gift of $50,000
Peninsula Community Foundation donor
advised fund
Up to $500
Maya Altman, in honor of Sherri Sager
Patricia Bresee
Chris & Elizabeth Dawes
Michael Goldeen
Elizabeth Gonda
Randall & Julie Merk
Sherri Sager
Marti Roach
Dr. & Mrs. Andrew White
Bobbie Wunsch
Up to $250
2 Anonymous
Douglas & Kathleen Alexander
Edward & Shirlee Allen
Dr. Mary Bacon
Tina Baird
In honor of Charlesetta Fishman
Pamela Bilz
Stephen & Carolyn Bowsher
Robert & Betty Brown
Cisco Systems
George Choi & Michele Ono
Joan & Gordon Craig
Niel & Nancy Davidson
Merlin & Sandra Dorfman
Dr. Donald Ehrman
Michelle Coombs & Evan Thomas
Patricia Finlay
George & Helene Fredrickson
Dr. Robert & Sarah Freedman
Natalie Friend
Dr. & Mrs. Richard Greene
John Harbaugh
Jane Harris
Myrle Hillback
Clay and Kennetha Judd
We need your help
We welcome your donation of cash, stock, or gifts in kind.
Name: ___________________________________________________
E-mail:___________________________________________________
Address: _________________________________________________
City: ___________________________
Please mail to:
Ravenswood Family Health Center
1798A Bay Road
East Palo Alto, CA 94303
Board members commit many hours each
month to the governance of the clinic. They
serve on sub-committees that define policy
and plan future strategies and represent the
clinic at community events. The constancy
of their commitment has been crucial in
these first start-up years.
Welcome on Board
Gordon Russell, the newest board member,
was a trustee of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation
from 1986-2000 and served as its
chairman from 1990-1995. He also served
on the board of Peninsula Community Foundation
and was its chairman from 1998 to
2001. His energetic leadership seems virtually
inexhaustible. In addition to our board, he
is currently a director of The Carnegie Foundation
for the Advancement of Teaching,
The Woods Hole Research Center, Sun Valley
Writers Conference, and Community Impact.
State: _______ Zip: ________
__ Please send information about Ravenswood Family Health Center
__ Enclosed is my contribution of $____________
__ I would like to remain anonymous
Ravenswood Family Health Center is tax exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit agency
Tel. (650) 330-7400 Fax (650) 321-1156 • Email: Ravenswood@rfhc.org
S.A. Kushinka
G.I.Langmuir
Leonard Leving
Drew McCalley & Marilyn Green
Iaian & Elizabeth McDougall
New Sweet Home Church of God
Larry & Lorraine Nienkerk
Dr. & Mrs.Stewart Nixon
Betsy O’Hare,
in honor of Sherri Sager
Jean Parmelee
Caroline Pease
Jeannette Remmel
Ron & Judith Romines
Joan Roy
Judith Scales
Senator Byron Sher
Margaret Spak
Margaret Taylor,
in honor of Sherri Sager
Robert & Janet Temple
Caroline Tonetti
Isabel Valdes
James Vertin
Dr. & Mrs. Leslie Zatz
INKIND
Alice Shikina, Graphic Designer
... And our appreciation to the
others who make the clinic possible.
Board of Directors
Melieni Talakai, President
Julio Garcia, Vice-President
Charlesetta Fishman, Secretary
Ayodele Ankoanda-King, Parliamentarian
Manuel Arteaga, Treasurer
Rosaura Carlos
Marceline Combs
Senseria Conley
Jose Clark Munoz
Gordon Russell
Tony Russo, MD
Challenge Grant
Thanks to the Sobrato Family Foundation
for its $25,000 match for RFHC’s first
annual campaign
Return on Volunteer Investment
Alison Gemmell is a volunteer with the County’s Reach Out and Read
Program. Once or twice a week she arrives with a bundle of books to
read to the kids waiting for their appointments. After seven years as a
technical writer, she’s training herself to write children’s books. In exchange
for her invaluable service to the clinic, she’s learning firsthand
what captures their imagination. We hope one day they will read one
of her books.
Back-to-School Health Fair
Volunteer Bonanza
RFHC recruited a talented cast of cheerful and well-qualified volunteers
to handle the phenomenal turn out for two August health fairs.
Thanks to everyone’s efforts, we were able to perform 107 physicals
and give 186 children their immunizations in a total of 12 hours.
Casting Credits
Youth Community Services’ summer participants-Adrienne,
Amanda, Jillian, Polly and Zachary-for their whacky cartoon posters
about immunizations that they put up to publicize the fairs.
Volunteer physicians-Dr.Fernando Mendoza, Dr. Alice Godfrey, Dr.
John Hornberger, Dr. Sam LeBaron and RFHC’s providers.
Stanford medical students-Antonio Alvarez, Lauren Maeda, Mike
Molina (and wife) and physician assistant students—Deanna Lewis
and Larisa Petrison
Undergraduates -Dylan Alegria, Emiley Chang, Norma Duenos,
Naomi Lopez
Linda Sutherland, R.N. and Terry Hoogasian, R.N
SMC Health Services Immunization Team, led by Robyn Zeigler
and Gloria Silvestri, PHN, donated two Saturdays to make sure the
kids were ready for school. Thanks to Vicky Camilleri, PHN, Vera Edstrom,
PHN, Gladys Fabiano, Susana Flores, PHN, Michelle Londono,
PHN, Faye Jennings, PHN, Julia Wilson, PHN. Lucile Packard
Children’s Hospital provided Elizabeth Burgos, RN, Theresa Mcintyre,
LVN, and Larisa Peralta, RN.
El Concilo is always there when we need them. Their volunteers were
Lomi Asaua, Cecilia Canales, Norma Duenos, Silvia Flores, Laura
Herrera, Aaron Huerta, Victor Lopez, Ernesto Rivas, Miguel Rojas,
Ana Valencia.
Reach Out and Read’s program coordinator, Pamela Bilz,for spending
hours reading to kids.
And thanks to Ester Aguirre, Mikeala Allen, Brenda Beecher, Jody
Bruguera, Dora Castenada, Tanisha Clark, Martin Guillin, Joseph
Lopez, Rosa Maldonado, Carlisha Robbins, Kate Shea, and Virginia
Wilson. Staff family members volunteered too-Daisy Garcia, Inez
Jaquez, and Patrick Harris.
And finally our ubiquitous board members - Marceline Combs,
Charlesetta Fishman, Jose Munoz, Gordon Russell, and Board Chair
Melieni Talakai who volunteered herself and her five children-Vuki,
Lupe, Mei, Hau, and Vita.
Thanks also to RFHC staff and to anyone that we missed in this list.
Special acknowledgements:
Margaret Taylor, Director of Health Services for San Mateo County,
and Sherri Sager, Director of Government Relations for Lucile
Packard Children’s Hospital, give countless volunteer leadership
hours and are as committed as any board member to supporting the
development of the clinic. On behalf of the Board, our appreciation
and thanks.
Thanks to the Pacific Art League of Palo Alto, each month a new
artist’s works are hung in the clinic and Nonprofit Resource Center.
Graphic Design by Judith Alderman
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Ravenswood Family Health Center