| SMU Graduate opens Northern California's tenth ROTA CARE
This summer Desiree Allyn, a 2008 Samuel Merritt University Entry-level Master of Science in Nursing Family Nurse Practitioner Program graduate, will open Northern California's tenth Rota Care Clinic (RCC) in the Monument Corridor in Concord. The RCC is a Rotary-based healthcare clinic which addresses health-related needs of underserved communities and provides relief to overburdened emergency departments and urgent health care clinics.
"The clinic will also gain from the increase in absolute sustained good health in this population as a result of receiving timely health preventative and promotional care," says Allyn, a former SMU Laboratory Manager for the anatomy labs. "My clinic's premise is underpinned by Health People 2010's goals, which are to increase the quality and years of healthy life and to eliminate health disparities."
RCC's are run by volunteers made up of physicians, nurses, and pharmacists in addition to a registrar, and translator/registration clerks. Each clinic has its own Administrative Council. That council oversees the day-to-day operation of the clinic and consists of: a chairman, board representative, site administrator, medical coordinator, volunteer coordinator, fundraising coordinator, multiple members for social service agencies, and many interested community members.
"The focus on health prevention and health promotion at this clinic will provide continuum healthcare rather than simply addressing acute care. Short-term goals of the clinic will be patient education on health promotion topics such as smoking, alcohol, substance abuse education or cessation, responsible sexual behavior, and birth control," says Allyn. "Our long-term goals are to provide primary care for physical and mental health, and immunizations."
Rota Care Free Clinics have been in existence since 1989, when the first homeless patient was treated in Santa Clara, California. Since then Rota Care has expanded to include clinics around the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Washington, and New York. Rota Care is a nonprofit corporation with a coalition of over 1,500 Rotarians, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, interpreters and other volunteers who provide free medical care to the medically underserved in a collaborative effort with hospitals, clinics, community and social service organizations and service groups.
To learn more about Rota Care or for more information on their clinics please visit their website at www.rotacare.org.
The article was contributed by Carla Ross, Director of Alumni Affairs.
Back to front page » |
