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News from the Grossmont Healthcare District
The Grossmont Healthcare District (GHD), a public agency that supports various health-related community programs and services in San Diego’s East County, has granted $25,000 to Volunteers in Medicine (VIM) for architectural drawings and plans for the future construction of a 10-room permanent clinic facility in El Cajon, where an estimated 19,000 patients will be served annually by 2008.
VIM is a nationwide, all-volunteer organization consisting of retired physicians, nurses and staff volunteers who provide healthcare services to the uninsured working poor, including working families -- many with children -- who earn too much to quality for a government health program, yet earn too little to afford health insurance. Currently, VIM serves about between 500 and 1,500 patients annually at a two-room modular building located in a parking lot at the Valley United Methodist Church in El Cajon, according to Tom Varallo, executive director. When the clinic opened in the fall of 2006, it was California’s first VIM clinic.
The Grossmont Healthcare District, formed in 1952, serves as landlord of Grossmont Hospital on behalf of local taxpayers. The District is governed by a five-member board of directors, each elected to four-year terms, who represent nearly 500,000 people residing within the District's 750 square miles in San Diego's East County. For more information about GHD, visit www.grossmonthealthcare.org.
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