Richmond Rotacare, a free medical clinic for uninsured and underinsured patients that is staffed by volunteer physicians and nurse practitioners, is inviting the community to an Open House from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 1, to celebrate its 10th anniversary and also its new, bigger location.
All are welcome to the free event, which will take place in Richmond Rotacare’s new digs at the LifeLong Brookside Building at 2023 Vale Road in San Pablo.
Moving to the new location enables the clinic to “double the number of its professional exam rooms, thereby increasing its ability to serve those in need,” according to the Rotary Club.
Richmond Rotacare was formerly located at the West Contra Costa Family Justice Center on 24th Street in Richmond.
Richmond Rotacare’s clinic is staffed by a rotating volunteer of more than 70 high-caliber physicians, nurse practitioners and other medical professionals, in addition to a very small, paid admin staff. The clinic is funded in part by the generosity of local Rotarians and other donors.
“We’ve been through some major changes in local healthcare in recent years,” notes founding physician Pate Thomson, M.D., “including the closure of Doctors Hospital, Obamacare and most profoundly the covid pandemic and shutdown, which affected healthcare—especially for the uninsured and under-insured—in significant ways. Through it all, we’re grateful that we’ve been able not only to sustain Richmond Rotacare, but to expand our ability to serve more people with free, professional medical help.”
Rotacare Richmond launched in 2013, after a nearly two-year planning and discussion phase among local physicians, Rotarians and other interested parties. It is part of Rotacare Bay Area, which was founded by another Rotarian in 1989, and now includes 10 free clinics—in Monterey, Coastside, Concord, Gilroy, Daly City, Pittsburg, San Jose, San Rafael, Santa Cruz and Richmond.
“Our philosophy of serving is to do so by providing excellence in medical care in a way that is integrated within the unique dynamics of community we serve,” Dr. Thomson said. “I can’t put into words the wonderful joy and sense of fulfillment it brings to those of us who volunteer our time and medical expertise in this way. Many remarkable experiences and stories have unfolded these past 10 years and we look forward to many more in the near future!”
For more information about volunteering in any of a variety of capacities, including making a donation, or serving as a medical professional, language interpreter, scribe or in another clinical capacity, or as a member of the medical advisory counsel or on a committee, go to rotacarebayarea.org/richmond.
