County Supervisor Janet Nguyen, who represents Garden Grove and Westminster, spearheaded the "5th Annual Central County Health Expo" hosted by Concorde Career College in Garden Grove on Saturday.
The event was a true showing of volunteerism at its best as physicians, dentists, dental and medical assistants, EMTs, nurses, nurse practitioners, chiropractors and experts in eastern medicine gathered to offer education to the nearly 500 people in attendance, along with rendering actual medical services for free.
County Supervisor Janet Nguyen, who represents Garden Grove and Westminster, spearheaded the "5th Annual Central County Health Expo" hosted by Concorde Career College in Garden Grove on Saturday.
The event was a true showing of volunteerism at its best as physicians, dentists, dental and medical assistants, EMTs, nurses, nurse practitioners, chiropractors and experts in eastern medicine gathered to offer education to the nearly 500 people in attendance, along with rendering actual medical services for free.
"Volunteers are the core of the free clinics, with volunteer providers serving patients in general medical, dental and specialty care services and student pre-med interns also make up a large portion of the volunteer staff," according to the Lestonnac Free Clinic.
The event was a collaboration with Lestonnac Free Clinic, the Central County Foundation, Mariners Church and Concorde Career College, said Christy Delp, deputy chief of staff with Supervisor Nguyen.
Volunteer nurse practitioner Vietnam Vo with Southland Health Center said the organization's booth offered health assessment and medical consultation.
"Within the assessment today, we offered blood pressure testing, measured blood sugar and BMI, which is the body mass index or weight of an individual," said Vo. "This is my fourth year volunteering at this event and I have done a lot of other events with Janet. She's a great support and her work in the community is really admirable. Today, I saw several people who had never seen a medical doctor before in their life. This clinic shows how important events like this are and how important free medical services are."
"This event would not have been possible without the help of hundreds of volunteers," Delp said. "Everyone here today is a volunteer."
Delp said it wasn't necessary to register for the clinic; people could just show up on a first come, first served basis.
Delp explained that there is a screening process the individuals go through for the free services.
Those seeking medical help were screened, weighed and then went through an initial assessment area.
"Dentists come here from a variety of areas throughout the county," said Delp, "and we held a variety of workshops today about prescriptions and vitamin dosages. This is proof that there is a strong need for health care services, despite the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. We serve the uninsured and the under-insured."
The parking lot of the college was full of white-topped pop-up tents with lots of resource booths that provided health care.
One room, with traveling dentists, was full of patients receiving free fillings, extractions and oral cancer screenings.
Medical services included prescriptions, lab work, EKG tests and screenings for asthma, blood pressure, diabetes, stroke and obesity.
Delp said the Expo focuses on preventive care designed as a cost-savings to the county by reducing health risks.
Nguyen said, "As a result of the Affordable Care Act, the cost of many people's health care coverage has either increased or they have lost their coverage altogether. Avoiding basic immunizations, screenings and dental work can cause serious and expensive illnesses in the future, so by providing preventive care to adults and children, we can avoid costly trips to the emergency room."
Delp went on to say that costs associated with emergency room visits are significant, considering an average emergency room visit is more than an average month's rent, which was revealed by a National Institute of Health Clinic Center study.
According to Delp, the event is successful in connecting patients to medical providers, "Thanks to the hundreds of volunteers, public agencies and private business, volunteering their time."
