Health care for needy children and seniors in Livermore entered a new season this fall when the Rotarian Foundation of Livermore and ValleyCare Health System started using their new mobile health unit.
The foundation purchased the 39-foot, custom-made unit and donated it to the hospital with the proviso that it be used to provide medical care for people who could not afford it. The hospital will operate and maintain the unit, using it to provide care at schools, senior centers and other places where people can use health care. It also will provide a health-care option in case of a major disaster.
The unit marks a huge milestone for the Rotarian Foundation. When it was formed back in 1987, the original board members set the goal of raising a $1 million corpus and doing so before any significant funds were expended.
"The mobile health unit is a remarkable thing. It's the stamp that the Rotarian Foundation needed," said Gib Souza, former foundation president as well former president of the morning club.
The foundation was set up by members of the noon Rotary Club, the original club in the valley that was chartered in 1947.
The clubs in Pleasanton, Dublin and the Livermore morning club all grew out of the original Livermore club, which is still the largest in the valley.
After the noon club formed the foundation, the morning club then joined in a few years later.
The clubs have cooperated each year on a major fundraiser, which put 70 percent of the proceeds into the corpus of the foundation and gave away the other 30 percent in grants to community non-profit groups.
When the foundation attained the $1 million goal last year the 30 percent limitation on the amount granted was eliminated and a committee was set up to explore what project could best serve vulnerable children and senior citizens primarily in Livermore, but also throughout the Livermore Valley.
ValleyCare Vice-President and foundation head Ken Mercer suggested the mobile health unit at the first brainstorming meeting of the group. As Rotarians researched the possibilities and ValleyCare stepped forward as the operator, the plan took shape.
It's a dream that both Rotarians and community leaders have had for years. A decade or more ago, key Livermore Rotarians explored providing volunteer medical care to vulnerable populations, but could not work out the details on the medical side.
More recently, the health sub-committee of Project Roadrunner at Marylin Avenue School in Livermore also identified health care for kids as a key need and a mobile unit as a potential solution. A survey of Marylin Avenue students taken six years ago when about one-third of the children were living in poverty showed about that same number of students without health insurance.
The number of students living in poverty now tops 70 percent, presumably with the similar uninsured number.
Two factors were critical in bringing the dream into reality:
- The ready cash from the Rotarian Foundation plus key leaders who would solicit funds and a hard-working committee.
- ValleyCare's willingness to operate and maintain the vehicle, a new role for the hospital but one it is well-suited for with its mission of helping all the valley residents live healthier lifestyles. Assuming the unit works as intended, ValleyCare should also see fewer people in its overcrowded emergency room because people will have received the help they need before their illness reaches a crisis.
"It's a good project for them (ValleyCare) because if we can catch kids early, it can be treated and then the kid doesn't show up at the emergency room," said John Linn, immediate past-president of the foundation. "More importantly, there's no suffering for the child."
The foundation committee was chaired by Bill Geyer and also included Mike Thompson, David Mertes (also a ValleyCare board member and former board chair), Brian Mayall, Ken Coburn, Dennis Gambs and Tom Heath.
"It's very gratifying to watch the small sub-set of the board bring the project to the board, do all the legwork (countless hours pinning everything down),'' said current foundation president Lorraine Dietrich. "It all happened in a pretty short period of time."
The mobile health unit also propelled the foundation forward in its fundraising. The foundation committed the entire $350,000 cost of the mobile health unit, but planned to invest $100,000 and then raise the remainder to rebuild the foundation corpus.
In less than six months, it has achieved $250,000 said Mike Thompson, one of the founding members.
"The biggest handicap that the foundation had (in terms of fundraising) was that it lacked a clear need—something to grab people,'' Thompson said.
Dietrich concurred, "The ability to raise money around the van project has been astounding. It says a lot of good things about our community."
The van project also has allowed the Livermore Rotary clubs to tap into more corporate money, something the Pleasanton clubs have been able to do much easier thanks to the breadth of the corporate community in Pleasanton.
"Most of the money in the foundation is from Livermore Rotarians,'' Souza said. "There's very little from outside. That contrasts with Pleasanton North's where their Cabaret event has drawn lots of corporate support.''
In addition to providing basic medical screening, the unit will serve as a mobile medical clinic in case of disaster.
"We're also hoping that the mobile unit will allow us to reach mom and dad and siblings through the one or two children that we may see through a school screening," Linn said.
Livermore schools Superintendent Brenda Miller said, "The health unit is a wonderful opportunity for our students to get assistance from our health care professionals. Students must be healthy to learn so the Board of Education is delighted to have this much needed service for our students.''
ValleyCare projects that more than 1,600 patients will be seen in the first year of the unit's operation. Health system leaders have seen a 90 percent growth in emergency room visits in the last decade and are planning to see a reduction because of the care provided by the mobile health unit.
When Katrina stuck New Orleans, similar mobile units provided virtually all of the health care because the hospitals were flooded and out-of-commission. The unit gives ValleyCare a key resource with lots of flexibility in case of a disaster.
Looking ahead, Linn anticipates the foundation will continue to support the operations of the mobile health unit with an annual gift. The hospital foundation also will be seeking operating funds to use the unit to provide vital services.
To contact the Livermore Rotarian Foundation, please call 925-245-6701
