 Powered by Volunteer PractitionersMEND Provides Free Medical Care to Uninsured San Fernando Valley Families By Cathy Curtis It may seem incredible that three clinics with a total of three paid staff members could handle 5,899 patient visits in one year. But at MEND (Meet Each Need With Dignity), a multiservice agency in Pacoima, Calif., that serves the poorest of the poor, health care practitioners contributed 8,619 hours of volunteer time in 2008. “When we hire staff, part of their job description is that they’re working with volunteers,” said Marianne Haver Hill, MEND president and CEO. “Staff are there to make it easy for the [volunteer] practitioners to do their job.” MEND was founded in the early 1970s by professionals working without pay. Today the agency provides the only free, comprehensive medical, dental and vision care in the northeast San Fernando Valley, where 44 percent of residents have no medical insurance of any kind. Housed in a 40,000-square-foot facility that opened in 2007, MEND received a three-year, $200,000 core operating support grant from TCWF in December 2007. Offering a broad range of services for children and adults – including family medicine, healthy aging, diabetes and hypertension education and treatment, gynecology, acupuncture, general dentistry and vision care – the clinics can serve individuals with multiple needs under one roof. Because patients have neither Medicare nor Medi-Cal, restrictions and paperwork are minimal. “Our health care providers can just focus on health care,” Haver Hill said. “If our doctors want to spend 30 minutes with a patient and do a lot of education, they can do that. We’ve had retiree volunteers who told us, ‘This kind of medicine is exactly what I started out doing years ago.’ ”  MEND’s corps of volunteers provides thousands of hours of services as medical, dental and vision care practitioners, warehouse workers, grantwriters and many other vital tasks for the northeast San Fernando Valley agency. Forty-four percent of residents there have no medical insurance of any kind.
Occasionally, when a clinic lacks a full volunteer staff, or specialized treatment is needed, patients are sent to another provider. But MEND’s volunteers – who also work in the warehouse, write grants, do data entry and perform myriad other vital tasks – are a loyal group. Throughout the years, recognition opportunities ensure that hard work is publicly acknowledged and the grassroots, client-focused approach appeals to people who want to make a difference. Nevertheless, recruitment of volunteer providers is a constant effort. “We’ll go out to the San Fernando Valley Optometric Society or the San Fernando Valley Dental Association and try to get a minute or two at a meeting, then stay and network,” said Maggie Torres, director of programs and services. Yet MEND has not been as hard hit by the current economic recession as other safety net providers. Because the agency is completely reliant on private funding, no programs were affected by the recent state budget cuts. In fact, it has seen an influx of skilled volunteers who can’t find paid positions but are still willing to practice pro bono. In 2008, MEND had more than 2,800 volunteers. “If MEND had a full-time paid staff, that would be the equivalent of 60 employees,” said Frank A. Lalle, TCWF program director. “It takes a lot of volunteer stewardship to work with so many people with different needs and skill levels and keep them engaged over time.” Volunteer Opportunities at MEND
For more information about volunteering at MEND, contact Volunteer Services Director Lupe Acosta at 818-896-0246 ext. 7327 or lupe@mendpoverty.org. For more information, visit www.mendpoverty.org |
Fall 2009INSIDE: Residents Protect Their Environment and Health Powered by Volunteer Practitioners “How Can a Pharmacist Help Me?” |