Health Services for the Underserved
St. Jude Neighborhood Health Center
If you took a low-income neighborhood and built a health center in the middle of it – what kind of impact could it have? Could it do more than just treat illness? Could it actually improve the lives of the community around it?
Three years after the St. Jude Neighborhood Health Center opened its doors, the answer is clearly yes. Nearly 1,800 individuals walk into the health center each month to get help with a long list of medical conditions, such as diabetes, prenatal care and depression. Built in the Valencia neighborhood of Fullerton, the beautiful $2.6 million facility offers a wide range of health care services, from routine check-ups to chronic disease management, as well as monthly cardiology and othopaedics clinics that provide access to needed specialty care.
In addition to medical services, the Neighborhood Health Center offers comprehensive dental care for adults and children, counseling and mental health services, innovative health education, and a wellness center where residents can exercise and lift weights. A community service project of St. Jude Medical Center, all of the center's services are offered to patients regardless of their ability to pay.
For more information about the St. Jude Neighborhood Center and its services, please call (714) 446-5100.
Mobile Family Health Clinic
At churches and community centers throughout north Orange County, a scene repeats itself dozens of times each week. Children and adults, in need of everything from treatment for ear infections to prenatal care, wait for the arrival of the St. Jude Medical Center Mobile Family Health Clinic. Over 1,000 low-income children and adults receive medical care each year through this community service. The mobile health clinic makes regularly scheduled stops throughout underserved neighborhoods providing low-cost quality medical care.
The mobile health clinic provides a primary medical care home for hundreds of uninsured and underinsured families. But services go beyond meeting the immediate need for medical care: counseling, prescriptions, case-management, support groups, and help in accessing local, state and federal resources are all part of our commitment. Staff is also available to help individuals apply for health insurance.
For more information, please call (714) 446-5100.
St. Jude Children's Dental Center
After being turned away from several dentists because the family lacked the ability to pay, Alicia Gonzalez was overwhelmed when she learned the St. Jude Children's Dental Center would treat her son Gianluca. In addition to curing Gianluca's extensive gum infections, almost all of Gianluca's teeth required treatment for cavities and decay. Orthodonture was also needed to help correct overlapping teeth and partial dentures were created for the teeth that had to be pulled.
Today, the smiling 6-year-old kindergartner remembers to brush his teeth twice a day and his newly discovered self-confidence illustrates the importance of the dental center's services. "Because of St. Jude, Gianluca is happy now," says his mom. "I don't know what would have happened if we had not found this dental center."
Almost 40 percent of low-income children receive no dental care, meaning cavities, decay and infections often go untreated. The cost in pain, embarrassment and missed school can be enormous. Helping to create a solution is the St. Jude Dental Clinic, located in the Boys and Girls Club of Buena Park. One of the only clinics of its kind in Orange County, the Dental Clinic provides quality dental care – from routine cleanings to orthodontics – to hundreds of low-income and uninsured families each year.
For more information about the St. Jude Children's Dental Clinic, please call (714) 522-8723.
Access to Care Initiative
Since July 2010, St. Jude Medical Center has moved in a strategic direction to increase the number of uninsured and underinsured patients who are seen at our Neighborhood Health Centers and St. Jude Heritage Healthcare. This innovative approach provides a medical home for thousands of low-income residents of north Orange County, ensuring they get the right level of care, at the right time—before treatable and controllable medical conditions develop into something much more serious.
Super Surgery Saturday
Each year, in partnership with AccessOC, St. Jude Medical Center physicians, nurses and support staff volunteer to give up their Saturday to provide free outpatient surgery to low-income individuals. In 2011, 17 outpatient surgeries were provided at St. Jude.