Healthy Rewards

As winter fades into spring and lupines begin to pop up on the local hills, the Glendale Healthy Kids staff should breathe a sigh of relief: There are fewer sick children to refer for treatment. But there is always a need for health care--along with the flowers, for example, allergy season has bloomed--and the phones just keep ringing. Luckily, the staff knows whom to call.

Dr. Richard Foullon, medical director and president of Verdugo Hills Medical Associates, is used to ringing phones. Throughout the year, but especially when school is in session, he answers the call to set broken bones, swab sore throats and sew up kids who are unaccustomed to a doctor’s soothing touch.

“My associates and I just can’t stand to see people who need our help and can’t get it,” Foullon said. “We want to take care of the children in our community who don’t have access to the same health care my own kids have.”

The 52-year-old Glendale resident and 155 other volunteer health-care professionals have pooled their resources and established a network that provides free medical care for uninsured Glendale students.

Located in the Glendale Unified School District’s Administration Center, the Glendale Healthy Kids staff fields calls from school nurses and teachers seeking immediate treatment for sick or injured students.

Depending on the nature of the problem, the student is directed to a dentist, doctor or hospital attached to the 5-year-old nonprofit program.

“Our primary goal is to improve the students’ health so they have a better chance to learn,” said Carol Reynolds, executive director of Glendale Healthy Kids and the link between the schools and the doctors. “We cannot run this program without the likes of Dr. Foullon. He’s gracious, generous and invaluable.”

Foullon, a native of Mexico who attended Glendale High School and UCLA, came in on the ground floor of the project that began at the initiation of Glendale Memorial Hospital and Health Center in 1993.

After the completion of a needs assessment report that highlighted the need for free health care for many Glendale youngsters, the hospital galvanized Glendale Adventist Medical Center and Verdugo Hills Hospital in 1994 to create the Glendale Healthy Kids coalition, which last year assisted about 600 children.

Along with urgent care, pharmaceutical services and eye care, the health program has targeted dental care as a primary need among children. That’s where Joylene Wagner comes in.

The married mother of three and longtime Glendale resident joined the volunteer organization four years ago, and has served on its board of directors ever since.

Wagner provides transportation to students needing medical attention, teaches preventive dental care to first-graders at John Muir Elementary School in Glendale and assists the USC Mobile Dental Clinic when it rolls into town.

“I’ve come into contact with people whose needs are so basic,” Wagner said. “I feel like I’m really making a difference.”

Foullon, who co-directs the Sherman Oaks Hospital emergency room, agreed.

“I have always wanted to do what I do, and have been lucky enough to achieve it,” he said. “There are a lot of people who deserve better than what they get.

“My goal is to make kids feel comfortable and let them know that we in the community care about them.”