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Volunteers prepare for the mobile health clinic at Sacred Heart Community Service in San Jose.
SAN JOSE, California. – Hundreds of people without health insurance were able to get free medical and dental services Sunday through a mobile health clinic at Sacred Heart Community Service.
“Everyone deserves really great health care. It doesn’t matter what their stage in life is, we want to make sure everyone gets the care they need,” said Kevin Fell with Shir Hadash, a Jewish congregation in Los Gatos who organized the event.
The clinic was established to treat and care for the poor population of the South Bay. Inside were makeshift dental offices, with rooms for hearing tests, eye exams and blood work.
Community organizations such as Tzu Chi Medical and the Lions Club set up mobile clinics at Sacred Heart so that all services could be in one place.
“They have about 200 people signed up to come, we already have 5 dental patients waiting. And we do this all over northern California, so last weekend we were in Modesto providing dental care to those in need , they just can’t afford not having insurance. That’s what we’re here for,” said Jim Toal, a volunteer with Tzu Chi.
Fell said about 150 volunteers worked to organize the event. Some of them are nursing students from Mission College and San Jose State University.
Mission College student Raquel Vasquez Bolli said she’s getting hands-on experience “just seeing different cultures, you get more exposure when you’re out in the community like this and that’s really important.”
The population in need of these services is often ignored, but interpreters were on hand to help facilitate conversations with doctors and ensure people are knowledgeable about their health.
“They don’t know about the resources we have in this community, or they’re too shy to talk, or they don’t have the knowledge to be able to get this kind of help,” Sofia Diaz-Infante said. a nursing student at San Jose State University.
It’s a full-circle moment for Diaz-Infante, because she used the resources at Sacred Heart as a child and grew up right down the street. She said being able to help her community is why she decided to become a nurse.
“This country gave me so much, so it was really important to take that into consideration and be able to help people give back to the help I got when I was younger,” Diaz-Infante said.
The event lasts until 16:30 on Sunday.
