The Grossmont Healthcare District (GHD), a public agency that supports various health-related community programs and services in San Diego’s East County, recently hosted a check-presentation ceremony with Maureen Hartin, CEO, Volunteers in Medicine (VIM) San Diego, Inc. The ceremony celebrated GHD’s ongoing support of VIM, including a $150,000 grant awarded during GHD’s current fiscal year.
GHD’s grant assists with paying pay for diagnostic test lab tests and fees and medical supplies for uninsured East County residents who are treated for free at the VIM El Cajon medical clinic at 1457 East Madison Ave.
VIM’s mission is to improve access to health care for America’s underserved, particularly the uninsured, by relying on volunteer medical professionals, including retired doctors and nurses. The non-profit VIM brings together medical professionals and patients who don’t have health insurance.
Located in a parking lot behind Chapel of the Valley United Methodist Church in El Cajon, VIM’s clinic is staffed by more than 100 professional volunteers, including retired doctors, nurses and support staff, who donate thousands of hours in providing primary care services to more than 3,000 patients annually. The majority of patients are from employed working families who earn too much to quality for a government health program, yet earn too little to afford health insurance, according to Hartin.
Founded in 1994, VIM is a nationwide nonprofit dedicated to developing free community-based health clinics for the uninsured. There are currently 97 VIM clinics operating in 25 states. When the El Cajon clinic opened in the fall of 2006, it was California’s first VIM clinic.
The Grossmont Healthcare District, formed in 1952 to build and operate Grossmont Hospital, is governed by a five-member board of directors, each elected to four-year terms, who represent nearly 500,000 people residing within the District’s 750 square miles in San Diego’s East County. For more information about GHD, visitwww.grossmonthealthcare.org.
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