Healthcare Summit Draws Attention To Lack Of Healthcare
A Coachella Valley Healthcare Summit today at the Fantasy Springs Event Center may draw hundreds of people, including residents, students, service providers, healthcare leaders and stakeholders and representatives of local governments and academics.
Also expected for the four-hour event are representatives from area hospitals and clinics, health insurance organizations, foundations and policymakers.
The idea is to inform the community about the lack of health care for many people in the valley, and to finalize a regional healthcare access and wellness strategic plan.
According to Dr. Raul Ruiz, director of the Coachella Valley Healthcare Initiative, primary care physicians are in short supply in the area.
More than 1,200 people lined up for hours in Thermal in November 2009 to see physicians from “Flying Doctors,” also known as Los Medicos Voladores, a charity group that usually provides services in Third World countries. Coachella Valley was the organization’s only U.S. stop. It usually stops twice a year to treat migrant workers in southeast California. The next stop is set for March 25-27 in Oasis.
According to Ruiz, who is an ER physician at the Eisenhower Medical Center, there is one full-time equivalent physician serving a population of 10,000 in Desert Hot Springs. For context, the federal government defines an underserved community as having one family physician per 3,500 people, Ruiz said. Palm Springs reportedly has one doctor for every 193 people.
