One simple word describes the newly established, free, health-care clinic in the Lake City neighborhood: priceless.
Located in the same building as the Helpline Food Bank, the RotaCare Free Clinic is open three hours every Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Visits to the clinic are free for people who have no insurance and are unable to pay for medical services.
The RotaCare clinic is a project of four area Rotary groups: Lake Forest Park, Seattle Northeast and Shoreline Lunch and Breakfast clubs.
“Last week we had a broken toe, dislocated shoulder and some other ailments,” said lead organizer Roger Bouck, who is a member of the Lake Forest Park Rotary. “They could go to the emergency room, but some wouldn’t go and would ignore their problem.”
The clinic is primarily urgent care and if patients have an ailment that requires a specialist they will be referred. The first weekend the clinic opened, physicians saw 16 patients, all of whom were adults. After word spreads, organizers expect many families with children will frequent the clinic.
Preparations for the clinic took less than a year, and opening day on Feb. 25 was a success, despite being hectic and having some supplies still packed, organizers said.
“Last week we couldn’t find any Band-Aids,” said Dr. Bill Forney, a retired pediatrician and Shoreline Rotarian who helps out at the clinic. “It’s kind of like moving, when everything is in boxes.”
The only question patients are asked is if they have insurance. For patients who may feel uncomfortable giving their name, they are allowed to make up a name that they will remember so a chart can be started.
“The purpose of the clinic is to provide free care to indigent people, the working poor, who are not on welfare and don’t have any insurance,” Forney said,
Each Saturday, two doctors and two nurses see patients at 15-20 minute intervals, while other volunteers manage patient registration and “crowd control.” It is hoped that enough physicians will volunteer so they only have to work once every three months, Forney said.
The clinic is located in a small portion of the Helpline Food Bank, accessible by a separate door. The clinic includes a small reception area, complete with a handful of folding chairs and a narrow hallway that leads to two small exam rooms, which were constructed by Rotary volunteers. The space occupied by the clinic was formerly a large room utilized by the food bank.
The other two RotaCare clinics in the Puget Sound also are located within food banks, Bouck said, because that is where there is a definite need.
Much of the medical equipment and supplies was donated, and Rotary volunteers also purchased some items at discount prices. Both exam tables are refurbished and other well-used items are obvious, such as a scale and a tool chest in one exam room, used to hold examining equipment. A “wish list” hangs on the hallway wall.
Northwest Hospital has offered free laboratory support and Bartell Drug Store will supply medications at cost, with the Rotary clubs picking up the tab. Doctors at the clinic will have the option of drawing blood at the clinic and sending it by courier to Northwest Hospital or sending a patient to the hospital for lab work. Bus passes are available for patients who choose the latter option.
Although most Rotary projects are undertaken by a single club, Bouck said it is not unusual for clubs to coordinate on larger projects such as this one. The Lake City area was selected for the clinic because it has the highest concentration of low-income housing in the Puget Sound area, he said.
“A lot of people don’t realize in Lake City there is low-income all over the place,” Bouck said.
The clinic operates under an administrative council, which reports to the Puget Sound Regional RotaCare council, which has oversight of the other two clinics. The administrative council meets monthly to review operations at the clinic.
Dr. Mary Starkebaum, director of the clinic, heard about the volunteer opportunity through a patient. During the week, Starkebaum is a primary-care internist with an office in the Greenlake area.
“None of us have done this before,” said Starkebaum, of Lake Forest Park.
The clinic needed a doctor to oversee medical aspects, answer medical-related questions and also see patients, she said.
“We all have our other lives and we do what we can,” Starkebaum said. “This is actually a lot of different people interacting in various ways.”
For Lake City resident Maria Garcia, a single mother with three young children, the clinic has proven helpful. Garcia, originally from Mexico, does not have insurance and works in child care. She visited the clinic on Saturday, March 4, which she said is much closer than the Bothell-area clinic she previously visited when ill.
“Yes, it is good,” said Garcia, who plans on returning as needed.
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