I am a 79 year old retired general and vascular surgeon who was a board member of the San Diego County Medical Society Foundation until my three terms were up last September. I have personally assisted Patient Access San Diego, a program administered by the Foundation, in obtaining volunteer physicians and other providers of medical care for patients who are carefully screened for need. I attended a daylong Kaiser surgery center session where over 100 volunteers provided surgical services for people who could not obtain work without correction of their surgical defect. Throughout my career I made it a precept that those in need of surgical services should receive them from caring physicians and other medical personnel whenever they were unable to pay through no fault of their own.
As a child of eight I had free care from the County of San Diego for a serious injury to my right arm. We were poor, and the care was free. In large part it was this experience that prompted me to become a physician and motivates activities such as Patient Access San Diego.
Ralph R. Ocampo, MD FACS