Free mobile clinic fills ‘huge need’ on Casino Road

EVERETT — A mobile clinic now offers free primary care to uninsured families on Casino Road in south Everett.

On the first and third Friday this month, local nonprofit Lahai Health parked its nearly 30-foot clinic on wheels at Connect Casino Road’s community center known as The Village. The center, within walking distance of several apartment complexes along Casino Road, is a resource hub for the neighborhood’s low-income Spanish-speaking population.

Starting in October, Lahai will park the two-room clinic at 14 E Casino Road every Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. One or two of Lahai’s network of hundreds of volunteer doctors will staff the clinic. Doctors will spend up to an hour working with each patient.

The clinic is a way to alleviate health care challenges common for Casino Road families, including financial, language and transportation barriers. Connect Casino Road partnered with Lahai after locals expressed a need for preventative care at several community listening sessions, said Alvaro Guillen, director of Connect Casino Road.

Veronica Martinez, who lived on Casino Road for several years and now volunteers as a Lahai site coordinator, noted this is “a huge need.”

“I want the community to know that this is here, and it’s free,” she said through a Spanish interpreter, Guillen.

Lahai expects to serve 300 to 400 patients on Casino Road in the first year. Expenses for the clinic are low, said senior director Maggie Konstanski, since it’s mostly volunteer-based.

At least 3,000 of the neighborhood’s residents do not have health insurance, according to Connect Casino Road, a low estimate as many are undocumented. Although Washington expanded its health insurance market to noncitizens last year, coverage is still too costly for some families. The poverty rate along Casino is more than double the average in Snohomish County, according to census data.

Before visiting the clinic, Maria Zavalza went four years without treatment for multiple chronic illnesses, including anemia and pre-diabetes. She was in pain from the time she woke up until she went to bed. But she couldn’t afford any more medical bills.

“I learned to live with the pain,” she said, also through Guillen as an interpreter.

Zavalza had trouble with daily tasks like getting dressed and combing her hair, and eventually couldn’t work. A friend told her about Lahai, and she first visited the clinic when it was parked in Lynnwood.

Providers treated Zavalza with “empathy and dignity,” she said, calling it a “salvation.” She now volunteers with Lahai to keep motivated while she can’t work, and to help improve health care access for others.

“Establishing those social connections is key to what we do,” Guillen said. “When people come out of isolation, it has a positive impact on their health.”

Bilingual staff, including a nurse case manager and community resource navigator, help patients book appointments and fill out paperwork. Lahai’s case manager also connects patients with care outside of the clinic if needed. Lahai offers dental and mental health services at other locations in Snohomish County.

The Lahai mobile clinic has operated since 2010. In addition to Casino Road, the clinic parks on Broadway at Bethany Compassion Center on Thursdays. On Tuesdays, it visits Alderwood Compassion Center and Community Life Center in Lynnwood. The nonprofit also has locations in Seattle.

Lahai Health is looking for volunteers. Contact volunteer@lahai.org or apply online.

Sydney Jackson: 425-339-3430; sydney.jackson@heraldnet.com; X: @_sydneyajackson.