Pittsburg, California –June 7, 2016 — St. Vincent de Paul of Contra Costa County, (SVdP), celebrated today a “Ribbon-cutting” event to mark the completion of a building and renovation project at the non-profit’s Pittsburg Family Resource Center that will provide enhanced access to the center, and support the health and wellness services provided by SVdP and the “RotaCare Pittsburg Free Medical Clinic at St. Vincent de Paul”, in partnership with RotaCare Bay Area and 11 Rotary Clubs.
The expansion and renovations will upgrade the building to current Americans with Disabilities Act, (ADA), code and seismic requirements, and provide dedicated patient triage, discharge, education, and social worker space; all services provided through the free medical clinic program. The capital campaign was seeded by an initial donation of over $113,000 from Bill and Nancy Sabin, and supported by the Thomas J. Long Foundation, the Dean & Margaret Lesher Foundation, HEDCO Foundation, Kaiser Permanente Northern California Community Benefit Programs, the Jim and Leanne Noe Family, and SVdP.
Hess Construction, of Alamo, CA, was general contractor for the project. Hess Construction also built the SVdP Free Dining Room at the Pittsburg location in 2010.
RotaCare Pittsburg Free Medical Clinic at St. Vincent de Paul: The free clinic is a four-exam room medical clinic developed and built by St. Vincent de Paul, providing urgent and primary/chronic care for adults with no insurance. SVdP has partnered with RotaCare Bay Area for clinic license administration and malpractice insurance for the medical professionals, and the RotaCare partnership provides sponsorship/volunteer support from 11 area Rotary Clubs; Pittsburg, Alamo, Antioch, Brentwood, Danville, Danville-Sycamore, Delta-Antioch, Dougherty Valley, Pleasant Hill, San Ramon, and San Ramon Valley.
All free clinic patients lack medical insurance, and 98% have incomes below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level. All medical care, pharmaceuticals,, lab services, x-ray/diagnostic testing, nutritional and healthy cooking classes, diabetes health classes, social worker assistance, and referrals to specialty care/surgical care is free of charge to our patients. The licensed clinic is led by Medical Director Hamid Khonsari, MD, and staffed by volunteer medical professionals including physicians, physician assistants, nurses, pharmacists, pharmacy techs, certified diabetes educators, bi-lingual translators, social workers and administrative staff. The clinic is open every Wednesday, and the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month. A Diabetes Management Program provides follow-up care for uninsured diabetics. In addition to the volunteer medical professionals, the clinic is supported by staff resources including a part-time Clinic Nurse Coordinator, and a part-time Clinic Operations Manager.
Since opening, the clinic has provided over 6500 patient visits, over 1000 social worker consultations, referral to medical homes for over 550 patients, conducted over 230 one-on-one diabetes consultations, conducted over 500 nurse follow-up appointments., referred over 100 patients for surgical care to Operation Access, referred over 125 patients to specialty care, (Optometry, Dermatology, Podiatry, ENT), participating in over 12 community health fairs, and conducted “Cooking Matters” healthy cooking & nutritional classes for over 200 patients.
The Free Clinic is in need of volunteer physicians and other medical professionals. Please contact Clinic Operations Manager, Drea Riquelme at pittsburg@rotacarebayarea.org to join our volunteer team!
The SVdP Family Resource Center provides food pantry, (in partnership with the Food Bank of CC and Solano), and meals, (in partnership with Loaves & Fishes), a daytime homeless shelter, (in partnership with Winter Nights Shelter), a free medical clinic, (in partnership with RotaCare Bay Area), a free dental program, (in partnership with La Clinica), and is supported by many foundations, corporations and caring individuals interested in supporting those in our county that are struggling to meet basic human needs of food, shelter, medical care, dental care, employment, clothing, furniture and other emergency needs.
Contact: Barb Hunt, b.hunt@www.svdp-cc.org, 925-330-6732
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