COACHELLA VALLEY VOLUNTEERS IN MEDICINE

CVVIM aims to provide accessible and affordable healthcare services to adult residents of the Coachella Valley who are uninsured and have incomes at no more than 200% of Federal Poverty Guidelines. Patients are never charged for the care they receive at our clinic or through our homeless medical outreach, including referrals for laboratory testing, x-rays or imaging services.

Through these services, we know we are contributing to the health of the community and respecting everyone's right to affordable healthcare!

Our Strategic Plan (2020 - 2022) identifies four goals our Board of Directors directs staff and key volunteers to work towards:

1) Provide quality, professional healthcare services to qualified persons in a culturally competent manner;
2) Promote CVVIM programs and services in the community;
3) Ensure a revenue stream to meet current and future needs; and,
4) Ensure paid and volunteer staffing needs are adequate to meet current and planned program needs.

CVVIM has built and maintains a strong foundation of more than 250 volunteers who are involved in all aspects of the organization, from the Board of Directors to patient care and front line volunteers. We work closely with numerous educational institutions to offer internships and supplement our traditional volunteers corps because we believe that community health requires all components of the community. These opportunities include high school students who plan to pursue a career in healthcare as well as medical residents from a local hospital graduate medicine residency program and local universities and colleges.

We maintain board-designated funds solely to support the organization for a period of no less than six months in the event of a downturn in the economy that could affect individual and community support. Additional reserve funding for facility repair and maintenance is now being set aside from unrestricted support to ensure our physical facility, leased for $1 per year, is kept in optimal condition to support a safe environment for patients, the community, volunteers and staff.

Numerous activities are undertaken to support our current donor base, whether individuals, community organizations or granting foundations, and to continually grow and develop it for the continued operations of the organization. Whenever possible, discounted services or in-kind donations are sought after to encourage community support and reduce our cash needs. As such, in addition to $1 annual lease payments, several local businesses support our mission by donating landscaping services, trash removal and IT support. A local managed care organization provides free x-rays and radiology reports, and we have discounted pricing for laboratory testing and imaging services.

We involve ourselves in the community through marketing and outreach services, participation in local advisory groups, and individual volunteer involvement by staff in projects and organizations that also benefit the community through their missions. All of these activities, and others, ensure we are connected to the community and aware of trends and issues affecting the community, particularly relating to community health.

Lastly, paid staffing is kept to a minimum, ensuring donated and grant dollars go to patient care, however we believe in providing a fair living wage and work to reduce costly turnover by ensuring staff are compensated fairly and have access to ongoing educational and training opportunities, employer-paid healthcare options and a retirement savings match.

More than 35,000 face-to-face medical and dental visits have been provided since 2010. Annually, an average of 3,000 medical and dental visits are provided to 1,000 distinct patients, and additional contacts of more than 1,500 are provided for health education, homeless medical outreach, case management, health navigator services, and social service/community referrals.

An average of 230 volunteers each year give in excess of 12,000 hours to support our mission. These volunteers included physicians, dentists and other healthcare professionals, nurses, medical and dental assistants, medical translators, social workers, reception and clerical support volunteers. Each year, the value of these hours is greater than $350,000 (using Dept of Labor information for our service delivery area).

CVVIM will continue to provide no-charge medical and dental care services, including no-charge referrals for all laboratory testing, x-rays and imaging services, necessary for a patient's diagnosis and treatment. Services will always be provided in a professional environment by qualified professionals, and in culturally competent ways, to any qualified resident of the Coachella Valley.