I have been volunteering as an interpreter (Eng-Spa) since late last year. It has been a rewarding experience being able to help other express their need to get help. It is amazing how many people go through the clinic every night they are open.
Also, it has served as an opportunity to learn from others and to meet other amazing volunteers.
I absolutely loved volunteering at the Essential Health Clinic. It was an honor to work along side such kind, competent and giving volunteer medical personnel. Everyone involved in the clinic does an outstanding job to bring quality medical care to local families in need. They treat patients with care and respect and go the extra mile to connect even patients with complicated medical conditions to follow-up care. Most of their patients would either not receive care or would end up in the emergency room without the Essential Health Clinic.
Essential Health Clinic provides free medical care to the needy. Until universal health care is a reality in the US, this clinic and similar clinics across the country are the only places they can get the help they need.
Many of those people are poor, and many don't ever see a doctor until their illness is well advanced. They suffer a lot, silently.
I am an interpreter at the clinic, and I have been doing it almost weekly for over 2 years. I am so glad I can add my little contribution, helping with those that don't speak English very well.
The Essential Health Clinic is an invaluable resource in our community. It provides much needed urgent care health services to the un-insured population of Washington County Oregon, which is a growing population, somewhere over 80,000 individuals at this time.
For the past 5 years I have witnessed the miracle of caring in healthcare that EHC provides 3 nights a week to a grateful population.
I have volunteered at the clinic for several years and have seen first hand how the clinic provides me medical care for uninsured that would otherwise have no place to turn. The clinic also helps uninsured patients get set up with providers that can care for them long term. Tuality Hospital also donates lab and xray services. This is the kind of place that makes you feel good about America again!
I am a volunteer at Essential Health Clinic and am very impressed with the efficiency and organization of the program. All the volunteers are very kind and focused on providing quality care no matter what role they are in. I have had many patients tell me that they are so glad this clinic exists because they are without medical insurance for one reason or another and going to the emergency room would be too expensive. The entire process of admitting, vital signs, exam, and discharge is so efficient and organized that I can hardly find any way to make the process faster and as effective as they have already set it up to be. I would highly recommend this clinic to anyone in the Washington County area who is struggling without medical insurance and needs to see a doctor for an urgent issue. The only problem that I see with the clinic is that they can only be open two days a week. There have been a few times where patients told me they ran out of essential medications because they thought the clinic was open more often, and they had to wait two or three days before they could come in again to get the meds.
Were it not for the Essential Health Clinic, many of the clients whose children have basic care under the Oregon Health Plan would have no access to care at all. The staff works tirelessly to see that urgent care needs are met for those who have no insurance - they are an incredible group of volunteers!!
Since the beginning of my freshman year of college, my real passion has been volunteering at the Essential Health Clinic. I started at the EHC as an intake clerk, in the overcrowded lobby of the Washington County Health Department. All the patients of the clinic are uninsured, and within this group we have people from the correctional facility down the street, pregnant teenagers, migrant workers, and families just trying to make ends meet. The clinic environment surrounds me with triage nurses, doctors, and many other volunteers all donating their time and energy to help the people who are falling between the cracks of our healthcare system.
The energy in the EHC clinic is remarkable. Everyone volunteers at the clinic to make a difference in our community any way possible and the volunteers come from all professions, ages, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday we put aside whatever stress we have accumulated from school, work, or life and work together to set up a real clinic. Every piece and person within this group is a vital part of making the clinic run smoothly, and everyone there comes to volunteer with a real spirit of altruism.
I plan to pursue a career as a physician and I know I will continue to comeback and give to the community and my family at EHC that has given me so much. The amount I have learned about health and healing, and our healthcare system is immeasurable. I am so grateful to the volunteers and staff at the Essential Health Clinic for the wonderful opportunity they have provided me. I have been able to spend time there working with friends, learning about my future profession, and trying to provide health services to the members of our community.
Essential Helath Clinic provides invaluable medical care and concern for the most vulnerable and underserved members of our community. The clinic offers basic medical care and screening, free medications (when available), free lab work and diagnostic testing. This care is provided entirely by volunteers, from the physicians and nurses to the interpreters, lab techs and data entry positions. As one of those data entry volunteers, I have seen first-hand the difference this clinic makes in the lives of so many. Lives have literally been saved, Disorders such as diabetes and hypertension are diagnosed and preliminary treatments are initiated. Follow-up care is provided as often as possible to ensure that the client's health issues are fully addressed, monitored and managed through several community partnerships. The clinic treats each and every client with dignity and respect, and provides a much-needed friendly face in the healthcare quagmire. The staff is dedicated to providing this service to the community. The board of directors is active in developing the necessary resources, both financial and cooperative, to the operation of the clinic. The uninsured, unemployed community put their lives in the hands of these amazing caregivers...and I am truly honored to be a small part of such a grass roots solution to the healthcare crisis in my community.
Essential Health Clinic provides care for un/underinsured people with medical needs! It operates nearly entirely on the basis of volunteers, screens patients with more urgent medical needs for Project Access medical care, and is the only safety net for many people who can't otherwise access care. It keeps a large volume of people out of more expensive, less efficient, and less effective environments like the Emergency Room. Its an excellent model for care, and should be benchmarked and copied all over this state!
Essential Health Clinic has 2 sites that serve children and adults in the Portland/Hillsboro/Tigard area in Oregon. Adults and children who have to source of medical care are seen respectfully, with translators always avalabile, and care coordinators to help them get followup care, and volunteer doctors and nurses who listen and to the extent they can, treat acute medical problems, or get them to the next step for their chronic medical problems. Getting them inexpensive medicines either free or low cost is one of the skills the clinic teaches--both its patients and its clinical staff!
I have been volunteering with Essential health clinic for over 3 years and believe that this organization provides an important services to the uninsured citizens.
I have had the privilege of volunteering for about 6 years at the Hillsboro Essential Health Clinic, a free clinic to people with health needs and without health insurance. It has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. The need for health care is huge. The patients are grateful beyond expression: to see a smile on a once worried face, to hear the depth of appreciation from them. The leadership in the clinic is exemplary, striving always to minimize cost and maximize service.
I really enjoyed volunteering at the Essential clinic. I started as a student and have come back now that I am out of school. It has changed for the better and really grown in the last 6 years. These patients really have no other options for healthcare and are very grateful for the help. This is a volunteer event but I feel that I am getting 'paid' by how good it makes me feel to be able to help.
This is a wonderful medical experience! I have been an Internist for 34 years and this is always an uplifting evening's work for me. The staff are very supportive, have great senses of humor and obviously enjoy helping people. I would highly recommend this as a way for you to give back your medical expertise to the community.
I especially enjoy and appreciate the willingness of all the volunteers, staff and providers to work together to provide needed basic health care for the low income, uninsured people in our community.
I've worked in many volunteer clinics, having started one myself while in med school in the 70's. Essential has a superb quality I've not seen before--which is a referral coordinator who works during clinic hours and behind the scenes to get follow-up for patients. The main limitation of most volunteer clinics is the inability to give more than a one-night-stand type of care. Essential is able to find continuity of care for the many patients with chronic illness who come in for refills, or checks--but need far more. Essential has also worked with other community clinics so that most patients can leave with assurance they will get at least a generic of the meds they need. All-in-all---a First Class clinic!
Health care reform in America is presently in a state of suspended transformation and the forces of change are stalled as the number of uninsured rise and continue to die from lack of care that comes late in the course of illness in the U.S. The big picture is one of national change while the little picture continues to be that people need access to health care. Patients without health insurance commonly rely on some type of “safety net.” Essential health clinic (EHC) is a well organized and personalized safety net clinic that I have had the opportunity to volunteer as an RN and soon to be health care provider.
Essential Health Clinic provides medical services to uninsured patients. All the Staff members and volunteers are compasionate and dedicated to make the patient experience as great as possible. The Clinic is really well organized and runs smoothly. THus, it's a real pleasure to work with them.
I have had the opportunity to volunteer at the Essential Health Clinic (EHC) for the last several years. There are a few paid staff memebers, but most of the people staffing this clinic, including all of the providers, are volunteers. The staff members have a genuine concern for the well being of patients coming to the clinic. They go out of their way to provide the best care possible with the resources they have available.