Huge Los Angeles free clinic provides free health care to the needy

For the second time in eight months, a mobile health clinic in Los Angeles has demonstrated the enormous need for access to affordable medical care. Back in August 2009, as health care town hall debates were making headlines for being populated by people comparing President Obama to Hitler, the Remote Area Medical Foundation set up shop at the Forum, a sports arena in Inglewood, Calif. For eight days, the clinic treated the uninsured and underinsured - more than 6,000 people in all - providing health screenings, teeth cleanings and more. Ultimately, though, many people were turned away because there weren't enough volunteers to handle the intense demand for services.

This time around, the clinic returned to Los Angeles' Sports Arena, near downtown. Organizers tried to prepare for the crush of people by offering wristbands beforehand. People who didn't obtain a wristband in advance were allowed to return at a later time to receive services. The clinic is being offered for a full week, and is open 12 hours a day, 6 to 6. Almost 5,600 people lined up to receive wristbands Sunday, many waiting long hours in the dark and cold, some overnight, for an appointment to receive treatment. On Monday, the clinic's first full day in operation, it saw 1,200 patients.

Remote Area Medical promoted the event as "the largest of its kind ever." In addition to its work in Los Angeles, it has provided free clinics at locales around the world. For the L.A. clinic, the group emphasized the community, saying "In this time of urgent healthcare challenge, it is Los Angeles coming together to help its own. Medical and non-medical personnel are volunteering their time; supplies and equipment are being donated; local agencies and organizations are generously providing their resources." Indeed, more than 70 dentists alone volunteered for this month's go-round, many working long shifts in the neighborhood of 15 hours.

Though Congress finally pushed through a health care reform package; many of the provisions in that bill don't take effect for years, and many of the services people sought at the clinic - such as eye care and dental care - still might not be available to everyone who needs them. Clinics like these are eye-opening in that they show some of the best and worst aspects of our society all at once: They spotlight the volunteers who take time out of their lives to use their skills for good and help care for people in their communities; and they remind us of the political gridlock and divisiveness that helped our system break down to such a degree that it fostered such overwhelming need in the first place.

Photo credit: Remote Area Medical