Countywide : UCI Doctors to Take Over Traveling Medical Clinic

UCI Medical Center agreed this week to begin staffing an existing mobile health clinic with third-year residency doctors.

The mobile health unit, operated since 1982 by doctors from the community, is a project of the Community Development Council (CDC), a nonprofit organization using public funds and private donations to provide services to low-income Orange County residents. Joe Montes, chairman of the Santa Ana-based organization, said the agreement constitutes a “fantastic achievement,” since it will provide a consistent level of high-quality medical care for the mobile clinic.

The clinic travels throughout the county, visiting about 16 locations every month and treating about 4,000 patients a year, Montes said. Many of the patients might not see a doctor about their health problems if the clinic did not come into their neighborhoods, Montes said.

Clinic patients tend to be very young or very old, said Susan Hutchinson, a resident doctor involved with the program. “Many have no transportation. If we didn’t see them, they wouldn’t be seen,” she said.