A Doctor A Day Keeps The ER Away

There are those who charge that services in the Tenderloin attract poor people to the Tenderloin. They think this makes the problems of the Tenderloin worse. But there are so many ways that St. Anthony’s and our partners in crime are good for the neighborhood and the city at large. Take the St. Anthony Free Medical Clinic, for example.

The Institute of Medicine estimates that lack of health insurance leads to more than 18,000 deaths a year. According to a study done by the Commonwealth Fund, this makes lack of insurance the sixth-leading cause of death among people ages 25 to 64—less than cancer, heart disease, injuries, and suicide, but more than HIV/AIDS or diabetes.

Without primary care, low-income, uninsured patients are less likely to discover medical problems early and more likely to delay seeking help until the problem is severe and requires emergency attention. Even if an illness doesn’t need emergency help, the emergency room is where most low-income people go when they’re sick or hurt. One study by the Commonwealth Fund found that of 2 million emergency room visits a year, 33% were for health conditions that did not require immediate care or could have been treated during a physician visit.

St. Anthony Free Medical Clinic provides those physicians. A doctors’ care at the Clinic helps relieve pressure on San Francisco’s ER facilities and reduces the state and county reimbursements for these costs, which are constantly up for reduction anyway in a state that continues to struggle with debt subsidies.

All of our full time doctors provide primary care: annual adult and well-child checkups, adult and pediatric immunizations, GYN visits for women, nutrition counseling, preventative health education, adult and pediatric lab tests, medication counseling, and evaluation for referrals to specialists.

We provide annual physicals necessary for our adult patients to get job clearance and for our pediatric patients to get school clearance. We help them take better care of themselves and manage their own health between visits. We empower patients, providing them with the primary care they need to stay healthy and offering healthcare support in times when they are not, all free of charge.

We think that’s good for the neighborhood and for the city. It’s surely good for the people who live here.