BS: Sacramento help

Subject: RE: BS: Sacramento help
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Mar 03 - 01:35 AM

I work at Wellspring Women's Center, on 4th Avenue at 35th Street in the Oak Park section of Sacramento. We're open 7:30-11:30 every morning Women stop in for coffee and breakfast, just to come to a safe place to be with other people Mostly, they have a grat time while they're there. We have four nuns and a social worker who work the floor and get to know everybody there. If somebody has a need the nuns do their best to take care of it.
I'm one of the few male volunteers. I do dishes, day care, and maintenance work, and people seem to get a kick out of my singing while I'm working.

-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: BS: Sacramento help
From: NicoleC
Date: 20 Mar 03 - 12:41 PM

Awesome links, Joe.

I suggest, however, that if your friend goes to another clinic with a sliding scale payment like the one in Davis (link above), that she just leaves her Mom out of the story and says she's unemployed and has no income.

Meanwhile, I found these free clinic run by UC Davis medical school:
Shifa Clinic
419 V Street, Suite A
Sacramento, CA
916-441-6008
(Mostly Muslim oriented, but they serve anyone. Open Sundays 9:30am to 1:30pm)

Imani Clinic
3415 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Sacramento, CA
916-875-2995
(Saturdays 9am - 12noon. mostly African-American, but they serve anyone)

Subject: RE: BS: Sacramento help
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Mar 03 - 04:21 AM

I'm pretty sure there still is a free clinic in Sacramento. It's near the Loaves and Fishes Dining Room, about 15th and C Streets, I think. I can't find the name or address, but you can call Loaves and Fishes 916-446-0874, and they'll tell you where it is. The free clinic is probably not the best place to get the care your friend needs, but they should be very good at teaching her how to work the system to get pretty good care. It's quite possible she can qualify for Medi-Cal, which is a pretty good health program for the poor. The County Department of Human Assistance should be able to help with that.

There is indigent care available at the county health care services (click).

I'd say the free clinic is a good place to start (there's also one in nearby Davis, and it's a much bigger organization). They should be able to give you the information you need. Click here for the information about the clinic in Davis - they should be able to direct you to the clinic in Sacramento. They also have clinics in West Sacramento.

If nothing works, e-mail me. I know some people who know some people.
Sounds like the Mafia or something, eh? Well, I work for some nuns who work for the poor, and they do marvelous things.

-Joe Offer, Colfax, California-
(I still work in Sacramento on Fridays)
-(click to e-mail)-

Subject: RE: BS: Sacramento help
From: open mike
Date: 20 Mar 03 - 02:36 AM

is she from out of state?
has she been tending to her mother for long
enough to become a resident?
Medi-cal can be issued on an emergency basis,
and she certainly sounds like a candidate,
but perhaps if whe is fromo out of state,
that would dis-qualify her.
There is a bone doctor who has an office
in paradise which is 100 miles north of
Sacramento, who also works out of a clinic
in marysville or youba city, which are
with-in 1/2 hour of Sacramento. Helmuth
Jones 530-872-1745 is the number of his
Paradise office. He specializes in bones,
and is well known, and may have some ideas.
If her leg is actually broken, she can't
wait to set it...or it could result in
permanent damage, and she couldn't be
walking either...don't know how she is
managing! hope for the best...

Subject: RE: BS: Sacramento help
From: Sorcha
Date: 19 Mar 03 - 06:58 PM

Is there a Ministerial Alliance or ACLU? Possibly an atty would take her pro bonon............

Subject: RE: BS: Sacramento help
From: NicoleC
Date: 19 Mar 03 - 06:57 PM

Yeah, but the hospital will send you a bill anyway for the care, and often report non-payment to credit agencies. At least you get it if you really need it though!

I forgot this link:
SAC Dept of Human Assistance

I'm trying to think of a local charity of philanthropic group that might cover her, but I'm stumped.

Subject: RE: BS: Sacramento help
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Mar 03 - 06:50 PM

Hospitals in the U.S. are prohibited from turning away patients in dire need, but they do it all of the time anyway. Most hospitals have a charity fund that is supposed to help with these things. I think your friend needs to find someone who can help shake out some of that cash on her behalf. Meanwhile, it might do to simply camp out in the emergency room. I have a friend who had to do that recently to get her gall bladder removed because her HMO was working so slowly (on her behalf--ha!).

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Sacramento help
From: NicoleC
Date: 19 Mar 03 - 06:42 PM

No, there is not such thing as free healthcare in the US. Some states have need-based assistance programs (partially funded federally), but coverage varies widely.

She has a broken leg and the hospital sent her to a women's clinic!? Grrr! I suspect she may need more than your typical basic clinic care, but I can't find any references to free clinics in the usual sources.

If her Mom is living with her and is a legal dependant, she may be able to get assistance through Medi-Cal covering her AND her mother -- which might not solve her current crisis, but if she can get help with Mom's prescription and care costs, she may be able to afford care for herself. Basically, Medi-Cal is a limited version of a public HMO. There are no die-hard income requirements for the lower levels of coverage, but you do have to be able to prove need:

Medi-Cal FAQ and how to enroll

Subject: BS: Sacramento help
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 19 Mar 03 - 05:45 PM

May I request some help - in the form of information - from the members of this always kind forum?

I have a friend who lives in Sacramento, California. She has no income at the moment, because she's minding her dying mother. She fractured her leg some months ago, and - apparently because of the way the US medical system works - she has no automatic right to free or cheap treatment.

She went to the hospital, and was there told of a women's clinic in a nearby city, but the people in the clinic asked for proof of income, and when she said she had none, asked for proof of her mother's income - a pension. She brought this, and was told that she'd have to pay some hundreds of dollars for treatment, based on this income. But unfortunately her mother's drugs actually eat up all of this money, apart from whatever is needed for food and household expenses. (Thise people don't exactly live high.)

Is there such a thing as a real free clinic, or cheap clinic, in the Sacramento area where she can get her leg mended? Otherwise she's not going to get it done, apparently.