The white coat wait

H1N1 hysteria has dominated headlines for the past few weeks with photos of crowds packing doctor’s offices and queuing up for hours in hopes of a chance at the injection. Whether the flu bug lives up to its hype remains to be seen, but I dragged my kindergartner to the pediatrician for a quick prick in the arm just in case. When we arrived at the doctor’s office, the scene was almost festive. The line of children wound out the door and into the hallway, kids played freeze tag, and well-prepared moms unpacked lunch boxes with fruit snacks and juice boxes.

Unfortunately, every week in Clark County hundreds of people wait in similar lines for hours at a time in hopes of seeing a physician. Each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning and Tuesday and Thursday evening a line forms at the Jim Parsley Community Center which houses the Free Clinic of Southwest Washington. The clinic offers free medical, dental and vision care to residents who would otherwise have no access to such services. Volunteer physicians, physician’s assistants, nurses, dentists, optometrists, ophthalmologists, intake specialists, and clerical staff provide all care at the clinic. During the last fiscal year that translated into 531 volunteers and 18,080 hours of service.

According to Dani Leis, Volunteer and Community Relations Manager for the Free Clinic, the need for more volunteers is growing as the number of those without insurance and employment rises. “People line up every day to compete for space,” said Leis. “Even with our incredible network of volunteers we’ve never been able to meet the need. We turn sick patients away at every clinic.” Washington State estimates from 2007 report that over 11.7 percent of residents are uninsured. On a national scale, when unemployment increases by one percent, uninsured numbers increase by 1.1 million.

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