Nineteen percent of South Coast residents don’t have health insurance. And overall, 40 percent of adults have not seen their primary care doctor in the past year, according to the results of a two-year community health survey conducted by Puente. Puente staff and volunteers knocked on roughly 1,500 doors (and gates) to administer the survey, which does double duty as a population census and review of health care access in Pescadero, La Honda, San Gregorio, Loma Mar and their environs. The survey will point Puente toward a future in which its health care programs will succeed and expand to serve the custom needs of our local population. The survey’s timing is not an accident. Generously supported by the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital, the Grove Foundation, and the Mills Peninsula Hospital Foundation, and supported by Stanford University’s Office of Community Health, the results are essential information for Puente in administering the region’s future mobile health clinic.  Starting in 2015, the clinic will come fully staffed with bilingual nurses and doctors skilled in dealing with conditions ranging from diabetes to heart disease. Locals who may not have seen a physician in years will receive excellent care, as well as referrals if needed. “The mobile clinic stands to make a huge difference, but we needed to make sure … Continue reading First-ever Puente community health survey suggests much work ahead