Bay Area Clinic Reopens After Yearlong Closure
Gilroy RotaCare, a clinic offering medical care at no cost to uninsured low-income patients, recently ended a yearlong hiatus and reopened at South Valley Middle School in central Gilroy, the Gilroy Dispatch reports. The clinic, one of nine such facilities throughout the Bay Area, is funded by community organizations including Kaiser Permanente, Gilroy Rotary, Rotary Club of Morgan Hill, Silicon Valley Charity Ball and St. Joseph's Family Center. Thirteen volunteers and two volunteer doctors currently staff the clinic, which offers treatment for chronic conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and asthma, as well as common ailments such as aches and pains and common colds. Many of the clinic's patients are undocumented immigrants who are ineligible for care at public facilities.
Sam Gonzales, the clinic's site administrator, said the new RotaCare facility will welcome all patients and offer bilingual care. "It's bad enough these people are already down on their luck. They don't need to be treated badly," Gonzalez said. He added that the new clinic's more centralized location means "[p]eople don't have to take taxis to get here" (Niekerk, Gilroy Dispatch, 12/21).