Clinic Healthy Addition to Community

When field worker Rodrigo Avalos, 20, used a knife to inadvertently slice a fingertip instead of an apple, he sought attention at the month-old Piru Cook Medical Clinic.

Ignacio Guevara, 67, a 45-year Piru resident, is already a regular, visiting the clinic every other week to seek treatment for his diabetes. And Raquel Mendoza, 38, with two asthma sufferers among her seven children, no longer has to endure regular hourlong bus rides to Santa Paula or even Ventura to visit a doctor.

“I never thought they would put a clinic in here, because nobody ever puts nothing in here,” said Mendoza, a seven-year resident of the tiny community east of Fillmore. “I’m happy they put the clinic in here . . . because I don’t have to travel anymore.”

The clinic’s opening means that Piru has local doctors for the first time in about 40 years.

“It’s a strange thing to get in the mood of having a doctor in town,” said Monica Orozco, 38, the clinic’s office assistant and a lifelong Piru resident. “I’ve never known a doctor to be in town.”

Like the pace of life in the community of about 1,100 people, business is a little slow. So far, the clinic serves only about eight patients a day and a doctor is available three days a week, although that is expected to increase to five days within weeks.

An exterior sign has yet to be attached to the $225,000 portable building brought in from Ventura County Medical Center, so despite the frequent 100-degree heat, Orozco leaves the door open to alert residents that the clinic is operating.

But staffers expect business to pick up as word spreads.

“When we first opened [a clinic] in Moorpark, we were at three or four patients a day,” said Dr. Tom Kozak, 32, the boyish-looking general practitioner and clinic co-director. “Now we’re up to 60 [there].”

Perhaps half that number are eventually expected to be seen daily in Piru, said director Dr. Bob Gonzalez.

The county-funded clinic has little equipment--although an X-ray machine for detecting fractures is expected to be installed. Nevertheless, the facility is intended to fill a void for residents who lack health insurance, not for those who already have access to medical care, Kozak said.

“Any presence out here is a big improvement over what they had, which is nothing at all,” he said. “We’re not set up to compete with private practices in Moorpark and Fillmore. We’re here to provide care to people who don’t have any.”

At least 80% of the clinic’s patients have no transportation of their own, Orozco said.

The clinic’s arrival startled some residents, who are accustomed to little change in a town where folks customarily exchange a wave when they see each other.

“I was really surprised,” said Guevara. “I went to Mexico and when I came back, the clinic was here. There was something new.”