Updates on the Mabuhay Free Health Center

The free Mabuhay Health Center (MHC) was officially opened last December 5, 2009 with a ribbon cutting ceremony (video) attended by, among others, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, District  Supervisor Chris Daly, and Wilfredo C. Santos of the Philippine Consulate.

You may be wondering what type of medical care is available at the clinic. Rhonald G. Abitona, Health Education Coordinator of MHC, provided additional information for us.

The clinic is absolutely free to anyone, not just Filipino-American residents of San Francisco’s SOMA district. This means that, even if you are just visiting, and you find yourself in need of medical care, you can go to the Mabuhay Health Center and they will provide services.

These services include non-emergency care such as health screenings (blood pressure checks, diabetes/glucose monitoring, cholesterol screening), vaccines, tuberculosis testing, prescription refills and counseling, and health education (including multi-lingual informational matter). Each patient will be given individualized and one-on-one care by the volunteers, according to their needs.

In addition to providing free services to the community, one of the goals of the MHC is to enhance the training and learning process for its volunteer pool, which is composed of students in the UCSF health care departments. The students are supervised by a doctor, who will discuss the patient history and findings, along with the plan for any additional care required. In addition to the supervising physician, a nurse practitioner and/or pharmacist will also be on hand during the clinic hours.

Alvin Teodoro, Founder and Executive Director, sums up the vision for the MHC:

We hope to create an environment in which preceptors, UCSF students, and patients can teach and learn from each other to provide sensitive, accessible, and high-quality care.

The Mabuhay Health Center is an important resource for the SOMA district. I hope this will spark an interest in other cities/universities to have a direct impact on the health and well-being of their own communities.

Here, again, is the information on the free clinic:

Mabuhay Health Center (map)
1010 Mission Street, Suite B
San Francisco, CA 94103

Free Clinics
8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Every Second Saturday of the month beginning on January 9, 2010

image via Mabuhay Health Center