Clinic staffed by volunteers helps poor get health care

SOUTH SALT LAKE — What started weeks ago as a tiny blood blister on the tip of her finger landed Jennifer Jacquart in a procedure room at the Maliheh Free Clinic, wondering how long she would have been in debt had she gone to the emergency room for a biopsy on her now-festering finger.

Between jobs, the 22-year-old student found herself at the clinic earlier this week after the Instacare facility she went to refused to treat her profusely bleeding finger.

Like hundreds of thousands of Utahns, she didn't have $75 up front. She's also uninsured until the basic policy with her new employer kicks in next fall. Despite her attempts to clean and dress the wound and hope the problem would simply go away, it got so bad she couldn't ignore it any more.

And that's what the medical staff at Maliheh sees all too often: Small problems that could have been easily treated morph into full-blown infection and disease because simple, preventative care is too costly. The Maliheh facility is one of the first clinics of its kind in Utah, and it is part of a growing national trend to provide health care for the uninsured, the poor, and those like Jacquart who are between jobs.

The clinic, which is staffed by hundreds of volunteer doctors, nurses, clerks, translators and administrative staff, sees between 80 and 100 patients per day, all of whom earn less than 150 percent of the federal poverty level. They don't have insurance, Medicare or Medicaid.

Though the focus is primary medical care, the five-year-old clinic has grown over time to include a variety specialty care, including pediatrics, podiatry, orthopedics, gynecology, oncology, ophthalmology, gastroenterology, dermatology and dentistry. Most patients have either chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, or acute medical problems that have resulted from postponing care.

Founded five years ago as one of Utah's only privately-funded clinics for the working poor, demand for services at the clinic has grown to the point that it's not only expanding its hours, but an affiliated free clinic will open later this month in Midvale.

All services are free, but patients are seen by appointment, to control the flow of traffic.

The clinic is the realization of a dream of Dr. Mansoor Emam, an Iranian-born physician who grew up in a town with few medical services. The clinic opened in May 2005 after Emam partnered with Khosrow Semnani, also an Iranian native, who made a fortune disposing of nuclear waste through Envirocare, which was sold and became EnergySolutions.