The South Coast will no longer be a “doctor-free” zone thanks to a milestone initiative to bring wraparound primary health care services to the area: a mobile health care van dedicated to serving those who need it most. The mobile clinic, a co-initiative of Puente and San Mateo County Health System, will serve roughly 3,000 adults in Pescadero, La Honda, Loma Mar and San Gregorio who have literally been without access to primary care since 2009. A $1 million, two-year grant funded by Measure A, a county sales tax that passed in November 2012, will finance the clinic in its initial phase. It will pay for a van, along with medical equipment and a Spanish/English bilingual staff of four, including the part-time services of a physician, a nurse, a patient services assistant and a community outreach worker/driver. “It’s like a doctor on wheels.  It’s expected that people will go for every aspect of heath care problems, like asthma and hypertension and diabetes,” explains Puente Executive Director Kerry Lobel. In contrast to San Mateo County’s urban residents, locals here very often lack even the means of transportation to get to a physician in San Mateo or Redwood City, let alone time to make it to follow up appointments or pick up medications. Some people work in fields or plant nurseries from … Continue reading New mobile medical clinic will resuscitate health care on the South Coast