8/7/03 News Release

PRINT MEDIA CONTACT: Michelle Brandt, (650) 723-0272 ()

BROADCAST MEDIA CONTACT: M.A. Malone, (650) 723-6912 ()

STANFORD, Calif. ­ Free basic health-care services are now available to low-income adults in Santa Clara County through a clinic operated by students from the Stanford University School of Medicine. The Pacific Free Clinic is open on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Overfelt High School, 1835 Cunningham Road in San Jose.

The Stanford medical students got the idea for the clinic after participating in outreach projects at Asian cultural festivals where they found that language and financial barriers prevented many Vietnamese immigrants from visiting a doctor.

"A couple of medical students were involved in health screenings in east San Jose, and a bunch of the people they screened were immigrants who didn't have access to health care," said medical student Nina Chinosornvatana, one of the clinic managers. "The students came up with the idea that it would be great to have a clinic for these people."

Like the Arbor Free Clinic, which Stanford medical students have operated in Menlo Park for the past 13 years, the Pacific Free Clinic offers primary care services, medications, laboratory tests, medical and insurance referrals and screenings for diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. All services are free, and interpreters are available to assist patients who speak Spanish, Vietnamese and Mandarin Chinese.

The clinic will be staffed by medical students, undergraduates and volunteer physicians from Stanford and the community. While students will run the clinic and take medical histories, physicians will perform the actual exams and diagnose the patients. In addition to serving uninsured or low-income adults, the clinic offers an ideal teaching environment for students to learn about the practice of primary care and cultural competency in a community clinic.

"We have a commitment to teaching students community-based medicine," said medical student Julie Ishida, a member of the clinic's steering committee. "We train our volunteers to be sensitive to the cultural backgrounds of our patients." The training includes how to work with interpreters and also how to conduct simple interactions, such as knowing how much personal space or eye contact to give patients, or how to incorporate traditional diets or the role of extended families into consultations.

Although the idea for the clinic surfaced a few years ago, the project gained momentum last summer when The Health Trust, a foundation dedicated to improving the well-being of Santa Clara County residents, offered Pacific Free Clinic the use of its facilities at Overfelt High School. The site, located between predominantly Latino and Vietnamese communities, is an ideal location for serving immigrant patients.

"We just want to provide really good health care for people who aren't getting health care at all, and make an impact in the community," said Chinosornvatana.

Patients can schedule appointments by phone at (408) 705-0119 during clinic hours on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., or can simply come to the clinic for same-day care. More information about the clinic is available on the Internet at http://pacific.stanford.edu.

The clinic is jointly sponsored by the Stanford School of Medicine and the School-Based Health Clinics of The Health Trust, soon to be known as School Health Clinics of Santa Clara County. Other supporters include the California HealthCare Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, Chanwell Medical Group and private donors.

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The Stanford University School of Medicine consistently ranks among the nation’s top 10 medical schools, integrating research, medical education, patient care and community service. For more news about the school, please visit http://mednews.stanford.edu. The medical school is part of Stanford Medicine, which includes Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. For information about all three, please visit http://stanfordmedicine.org/about/news.html.