December Report by Blanche on RotaCare

 

Happy New Year and welcome to 2014. I hope all of you had a great Holiday filled with family and friends and that you are ready to embrace the New Year filled with hope and joy.

 

Time moves fast when you are having fun…December was a fun month; the staff was happy and we had special breads and fruits during the clinic; we gave out lots of hugs and wishes for a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Our program gave Kaiser an edible fruit gift for their holiday luncheon and we also gave the security guard a small gift certificate to Beli-Deli.

 

Morena and I were thankful for the time off, it allowed me the time to think about what I do at the clinic and get it written for all of you. I will be sending a copy to some of you so that you have if I get hit by a bus.

 

We had a review in December, our fourth since the start of the program and it was good to have both Kathy the quality person from the south bay use our program to train Esperanza our new quality person for the north bay. Aside from a couple of old meds….and since she pulled the file of a volunteer that was not currently with us ….I don’t think there were any glaring problems… It was nice to have someone outside of our family of San Rafael come and do a review…and I am thankful that I have a person I can ask questions if I have any concerns on how we approach something. The main office has been closed so I have not received the actual written report/evaluation of our program and I did not receive her contact information, but I will send it to you when I get it. My thanks to Dr. Mike Ralston, Gail Hurley RN,  Morena Parada site assistant, and Myan Tran pharmacy tech for all the work that they  do to keep our program offering the best services to patients and making sure that the measures we take are visible and accurate and documented.    

 

The program has not had many patients seeking medical attention. Morena thought it was because the weather though cold, it hasn’t rained and people maybe still busy working.  It seems odd to me. We are still offering the flu vaccine and I have received some information regarding some new upper respiratory virus to be aware of. Our Transition Clinic and all the other specialty services are going really well and I guess all is right in the world.

 

I have been having some problem with our refrigerator maintaining or regulating temperature and I received some info from Mike Sillman the chief pharmacist at MGH regarding a good fridge to get. I checked with our liaison at the county to see if we will be continuing to offer vaccine throughout the year. And if all is good I am going to get a new fridge for our program. This one was given to us by Kaiser and has lasted a long time….it is time for a change.

 

I have paid all the bills for 2013 and now we are ready for 2014. The pharmacy bill is still the most expensive...but I guess that is life. Our files are now in an approved Medical record facility and since I did that towards the end of this year Morena and I think that we are going to wait a bit before we call them to get more records. There’s still room in the files.

 

Here is a story of one of our patients …He first came to us 10 years ago; I remember the ride in the elevator and how red his hairline, forehead, neck was...I placed him in a room ( thinking he had a horrible case of lice or scabbies or some terribly contagious infection ). Boy was I young and dumb…It turned out that he had psoriasis, what a horrible illness!!!! He has come to us for 10 years to get his meds. He is a very very simple man, there maybe some kind of delay… but he has washed dishes for ten years as his job and has a wife and one son. I remember when I met his son I referred them to Head Start mainly because the family needed support. The child is fine and 9 years old.

 

Anyway, Rufino arrived at the clinic the other day to let me know that he was going back to his country, his mother was ill and he was taking his whole family. I sat down with him and explained how difficult it was to get back to this country. That it takes lots of money and sometimes there is not much that you can do for a failing parent. I told him to really think this through. He told me he had to go and then he thanked us for all that we have done at the clinic for his wife and himself and to say goodbye, there were tears in his eyes. This is the third patient that has come to the clinic to just say goodbye and thanks….I bumped into another patient that I featured in a story and she also said thanks for being there when she had no money and needed her meds. She had applied for support though the Affordable Care Act and had been accepted. She was so happy for her family!  What a place we run…it is amazing!

 

Clinic Report

December 2013

 

Sutter Labs                            17                                Dermatology             10

Quest Labs                            1                                  Psychiatry                 5

Marin General Images        6                                  Vision                         6

Kaiser Images                       6                                  Minor Injury               2                     

Marin Community Clinic     3                                  Transitional               8

Public Health                        2                                  Diabetic Ed               4         

Dental Clinic                                     3                                  Dietician                    2

Calif Vision                           1                                  Healthy Living          6

Operation Access                5                                  Relaxation                 8

                                                                                    HIV                             3

Total Referral                        44                                Vaccinations                         23

Total Patients                        139

Total Medications                 115     I will get the final numbers to you for the year soon

                                                            Blanche

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