The doctor is coming to town.

Puente celebrated a major victory on behalf of the entire South Coast community in September, when the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors formally approved funding for a new mobile health clinic that will exclusively serve the South Coast: Pescadero, La Honda and surrounding communities.

The initial funding for the clinic – a $1 million, two-year grant – comes from Measure A, a half-cent sales tax approved by San Mateo County voters in 2012.

A doctor, a nurse and a community outreach worker will staff the mobile health van, which should start making the rounds some time in late 2014 or early 2015.

“I want people to be able to enjoy some great quality time with their doctors,” said Supervisor Don Horsley, who worked closely with Puente Executive Director Kerry Lobel to make the medical clinic a reality.

Supervisor Don Horsley and Puente Board President, Mary McMillan

Lobel has been lobbying county officials for a consistent, reliable health care solution ever since the county cut funding for a different mobile health van in 2009.

Both mobile medical vans follow a history of attempts to provide health care services to the South Coast, dating back to 2002.

Lobel found a powerful ally in Stanford Professor Dr. Gabriel Garcia, who will oversee the  process of staffing of the medical clinic with a Stanford University physician. Under Dr. Garcia’s guidance, the van’s bilingual medical staff will treat patients on the South Coast with care and compassion. They will give special attention to the lifestyle factors that often play a part in causing chronic health conditions among a rural population. The approach will be holistic, engaged, and focused on prevention.

“This is very exciting. I think there will be lost of opportunities to do very creative things,” said Dr. Garcia.

Puente will help select a community outreach worker who will be specially trained to identify the short- and long-term health needs of local residents. He or she will be their liaison to the health care system, and help build confidence in the system. Many of the van’s new patients may never have had a primary care physician.

Perhaps most importantly, the van will make a point of stopping at the most populous labor housing camps. Puente’s recent census project and health care survey will be helpful in that respect, as well.

“We need to find out where people are and go there,” said Supervisor Horsley. “We have families who have may have children or spouses at home who can’t get into town.”

Sylvia Rauch and her husband Ted were used to doing without health care. She gave up her private health coverage when it got too expensive; he was denied due to a pre-existing condition. They made do with hospital visits when something was serious.

But things got a lot more serious earlier this year, when Ted started walking strangely and losing weight. Then his vision deteriorated. Suddenly he couldn’t drive.

“He had diabetes and we didn’t know how serious it was. It was affecting his vision. His eyes were bleeding. It got to the point where we were desperate,” said Sylvia. (Sylvia and Ted’s names have been changed at their request to protect the family’s privacy.)

Ted’s mother called Puente Safety Net Manager Lorena Vargas de Mendez. When she met with the couple, she knew she needed to act fast.

Normally, getting someone enrolled in Medi-Cal takes between 45 days and 6 months. But Vargas submitted a personal request for expedited processing. She was able to back up her request with a statement from Karen Hackett, a San Mateo County Public Health Nurse who has an office at Puente. Hackett was available to examine Ted on short notice, and free of charge.

It worked. Ted’s Medi-Cal application was approved within a month, instead of 6 months.

Ted had laser surgery on both eyes in August, the first of several operations. The family’s new health care plan also covers Ted’s diabetes medications.

“He’s doing a lot better. He’s able to drive now, which is like a miracle,” said Sylvia.

Staffers at Puente already know that accessing health insurance at the eleventh hour can save somebody’s life. In the Rauch’s case, Puente’s “safety net” services solved problems for the whole family. Sylvia has health care now too, and so does their young daughter.

Not only that. When de Mendez understood more about the family’s precarious financial situation – Ted has been unemployed for some time – she realized they also qualified for CalFresh, federally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. She helped Sylvia enroll in CalFresh in one simple step in Puente’s headquarters. Sylvia never had to visit any county or state office for health care or food stamps.

“It’s good that Puente has the kind of safety net where participants can come and get everything they need, instead of going from agency to agency and from one person to another,” said de Mendez.

Today, the Rauch family receives $530 a month to purchase food through CalFresh – nearly enough to take care of their entire grocery bill, according to Sylvia.

“When Puente helps, they do help. It’s a wonderful program,” she said.

For more information about how to enroll in a Puente, contact Lorena Vargas de Mendez at 650.879.1691 ext 116 or lvargas@mypuente.org.

Some foundations are like the nonprofits they sustain: humble, quietly supportive, and focused impacting people’s lives on a personal, grassroots level.

That would be a good way to describe the Atkinson Foundation, which has been a steadfast Puente grant partner since 2005. Since that time the foundation has bolstered Puente’s operating expenses to the tune of $96,000.

“They’ve been the quiet, steady and undemanding hand. They’ve been there at every turn to provide Puente with the flexibility to both meet basic needs as well as create new projects,” said Kerry Lobel, executive director of Puente.

What does that look like in the context of regional leadership? The Atkinson Foundation is one of the oldest grant-making organizations on the Peninsula, and gives the great majority of its annual support to San Mateo County-based organizations that work in some aspect of social services or education.

The foundation makes grants based on a principle of self-sufficiency – that given the right tools, people can improve the quality of their own lives.

Many grantees are the only organizations that serve a particular need in their part of the county, such as a nature awareness program for foster youth in Half Moon Bay, or rape trauma services in Burlingame.

“We’re nitty-gritty. Out impact comes from consistency over the years and helping small organizations get funded,” says Betty Curtis, the foundation’s longtime administrator.

Founded in 1939 by George H. Atkinson and his wife, Mildred M. Atkinson, with funds from the Guy F. Atkinson Company, the foundation also supports crucial international development programs in Latin America and southern Mexico.

The Atkinson Foundation has been a silent partner to many important coastal nonprofits. The foundation has supported South Coast Children’s Services for years, and helped rehabilitate its thrift shop following a fire. The foundation contributed to flood relief at Pescadero Elementary School, and at one point even helped the Pescadero Community Church replace the carpet in its multipurpose room, according to Curtis.

The Atkinson Foundation got involved with Puente after several board members took one of Rev. Wendy Taylor’s “reality tours” of farmworker housing camps. At the time, Puente’s work was focused on the male workforce who had come to the area without their families.

“That was an eye opener, to see how they live,” recalled Curtis. “You don’t think of what it actually means to arrive here with nothing, absolutely nothing. Not even the language. It takes a tremendous amount of courage to do that and I admire those people immensely,” she added.

The Atkinson Foundation is now in a period of transition from family foundation to an independent foundation, as only two family members remain on the board. However, all the funding priorities and procedures will remain the same. All funding decisions will continue to be made by its 11-member Board of Directors, and its funding priorities will remain the same.

There’s a theory in grantmaking that a foundation should make its mark by only supporting new initiatives. Supporting an organization’s overhead is far less popular.

Contrary to that philosophy, the Atkinson Foundation has proudly supported Puente’s general operating fund for years with annual donations between $5,000 and $20,000.

“We can’t have impact on the largest social issues, but we know these small organizations are going to change individuals’ lives. And we know there’s a cumulative effect,” she said.

To donate to Puente, contact Kerry Lobel at (650) 879-1691 x 101 or klobel@mypuente.org. You can also donate online at https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/puente.