By Michelle Hindmon June 30, 2011 11:51 am
The Jewish Community Free Clinic will host its Summer Celebration fundraiser on July 17 in Sebastopol.
The clinic has existed for 10 years but four years ago moved to its current location at 490 City Center Dr., No. 207 in Rohnert Park.
The clinic offers free services for people within the community who do not have health insurance.
The clinic is not meant to provide long-term health care, but a social worker is present at all times to help find out patients’ needs and to help the patients with referrals.
The health clinic is more about networking and helping patients get connected to other clinics that are long term.
Also, a bilingual staffer and an interpreter are always onsite.
Students from the Sonoma State University Family Nurse Practitioner Program volunteer at the clinic and earn school credit.
The nurses, physicians and an acupuncturist all volunteer their time and services.
The clinic constantly is in need of social workers, family therapists and medical providers, such as family nurse practitioners, doctors, and physicians’ assistants.
Most of those who donate their time start out by volunteering so that they can help a neighbor or friend get care. The clinic does work and school physicals on Tuesdays.
The clinic also gives free immunizations for children and free vaccinations for all patients and has a free food dispensary.
This also is the only community clinic that offers free acupuncture. The acupuncture portion of the clinic was added six years ago.
The Jewish Community Free Clinic wanted to build an alliance with different educational programs. They developed a connection to the Berkeley Acupuncture Integrative Medical College.
The students come from Berkeley to volunteer their time as part of an externship program.
Carina Wagner, a professor from the college, oversees their work at the clinic.
To get involved with the acupuncture portion of the clinic, one must be referred by the medical clinic.
The acupuncture “creates a balance in the body by creating free flowing energy in the meridians,” says Carina Wagner. An axiom in Chinese medicine is “when there is pain there is no free flow, when there is free flow of Qi, there is no pain.”
Acupuncture is used to open blocked energy throughout the body. The acupuncture clinic also supplies herbal supplements to support the work of acupuncture.
In the acupuncture portion of the clinic, students get the opportunity to learn their craft, while patients get quality care for free. Wagner says, “the unique benefit to not having medical insurance is that you can get help from the Jewish Community Free Clinic.”
The acupuncture portion of the clinic is a great learning experience for the students and the patients.
“When I talk to people about not having medical insurance or seeking alternative methods, I get excited to be able to refer them to the Jewish Community Free Clinic,” says Wagner.
