Caring for the Homeless

An editorial (“Helping the Homeless,” Aug. 10) focused on the volunteer efforts of a physician from Florida who set up shop at the downtown campground one weekend last month.

“It is unusual for doctors to spend their weekends helping the impoverished,” the editorial said. “For years Los Angeles physicians have provided medical care for thousands of Mexico’s poor. But this tented city was not in Mexico, nor was it in Ethiopia, India or Bangladesh. This was Los Angeles.”

“Why is Los Angeles,” it continued, “unable to care for its homeless population without outside help?” It then went on to call for “a well-organized volunteer corps” to “help solve the problem of the homeless.”

Is it possible that The Times is unaware of the tremendous volunteer involvement of Los Angeles physicians with the poor and homeless on an ongoing basis here in our own city?

Currently, 250 physicians volunteer their services at the Venice Family Clinic; 170 of them see patients at our clinic on a rotating basis, and another 80 see them for consultations in their own offices without charge.

This well-organized volunteer corps already exists at our private, nonprofit free clinic. It makes possible the delivery of vital medical care to the uninsured working poor, the unemployed and the homeless in our community in 23,000 patient visits a year. Five thousand of these visits are by homeless adults and children.

These doctors--family physicians, internists, pediatricians, cardiologists, dermatologists, endocrinologists, gynecologists, neurologists, oncologists, ophthalmologists, optometrists, orthopedists, otolaryngologists--give anywhere from a few hours every few months to a day a week. Our clinic is open six days and four nights a week, so they can fit their volunteer time into their busy schedules.

We’re proud of these doctors and grateful to them. Without them, there would be no access to care for the families we serve, 91% of whom have incomes below the poverty level, and only 7% of whom have any health insurance, including Medi-Cal and Medicare.

The homeless are part of the 37 million people in our country who have no health insurance. Voluntary efforts can and do play a role in addressing the problem, and our community can always use more. But the problem is bigger than all of us. It is obvious that major government efforts are needed to ensure access to health care for all regardless of ability to pay.

FERN SEIZER

Executive Director

Venice Family Clinic