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The People’s Health Clinic is Here for the Community

Park City touts picturesque landscapes and a lifestyle that lures folks more effortlessly than the Pied Piper playing his magic flute. With sunny days and cloudless skies, warm and welcoming neighbors, countless recreational activities, and abundant opportunities, it appears to be a utopia for everyone. But unfortunately, for some, every day isn’t always luminous. Those at the top of the peak may be unaware of the hardships in Park City and the need for a free medical clinic. It can be hard to believe, but thousands of people in our community cannot access or afford health care. Fortunately for these indispensable but often unseen residents, People’s Health Clinic exists.

The mission of People’s Health Clinic is to provide high-quality healthcare to the uninsured members of our community. In 2022, the People’s Health Clinic provided medical services to over 3,000 individual patients. It is easy to overlook the invisible population that makes Park City pulse. Immigrants from all over the world work shoulder-to-shoulder in our community.

Longtime resident Jose “Chicho” Santana crossed the border when he was only 12 years old. He would help his mother and father clean the No Name Saloon at 2 am to support his family, just one of the many jobs that he and his family has worked across the community. Like Chicho’s family, most People’s Health Clinic patients have multiple jobs to make ends meet.

The reality is that many community members are undocumented immigrants with no access to healthcare. The majority of People’s Health Clinic patients do not qualify for Medicaid due to residency status. This population is essential to making our resort-based economy function. They bring skills that make our community complete. They are the backbone of our economy. They contribute to our community’s triumph to ensure they provide their families with a better life. People’s Health Clinic wants to ensure that they also get adequate health care. In 1999, concerned citizens organized a one-day community health fair, and over 700 people showed up. It demonstrated the need to take care of those uninsured members of our community. Initially, the clinic provided healthcare from a mobile van. However, in 2009, in partnership with Summit County and Intermountain Health Care, the clinic moved to a permanent home in Round Valley. Today, the clinic sits at 650 Round Valley Drive. They serve patients five days a week.

The clinic has expanded its services and continues to help the community. One critical area of expansion has been mental healthcare. Chicho received care from the People’s Health Clinic for depression when he was still a teenager attending Park City High School. People living on the margins are more susceptible to mental health challenges such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. Factors such as poverty, undocumented residency status, labor trafficking, and immigration traumas, combined with health disparities, mandate unique care solutions for this vulnerable population. People’s Health Clinic offers culturally-competent comprehensive care, including medication management and counseling for mental health issues.

The People’s Health Clinic provides high-quality, no-cost healthcare to uninsured residents of Summit and Wasatch Counties in Utah. Chicho now works as the Assistant Clinic Coordinator at People’s Health Clinic. He says, “I know what we are doing here is strengthening the community and helping people like me who can give back in meaningful ways.” Chicho is currently attending the University of Utah to become a physician assistant. People’s Health Clinic relies on unrestricted donations from community members to support the free, non-federally funded, nonprofit clinic. Eight out of ten dollars donated to People’s Health Clinic is spent directly on patient care. By improving the standard of care for the uninsured of our community, People’s Health Clinic is building a stronger community that empowers all members to live healthy and fulfilling lives. 

The People’s Health Clinic recently published its first-ever research paper in an international medical journal.

KPCW | By Parker Malatesta

The clinic studied whether undocumented immigrants with diabetes can see improved health outcomes through care at a free, non-federally funded healthcare provider, like the People’s Health Clinic.

The People’s Health Clinic only serves those without health insurance, and most of their clients are undocumented.

The study analyzed average levels of blood sugar in 128 uninsured, undocumented Hispanic residents who were a part of the clinic’s Programa de diabetes, which is a comprehensive diabetes treatment program. Data was gathered between October 2020 and October 2021.

Diabetes is a group of diseases that result in too much sugar in the blood, affecting how bodies turn food into energy.

It can lead to people’s bodies not making enough insulin, or stopping cells from responding to insulin, which over time can lead to serious health problems, such as heart disease, vision loss, and kidney disease.

Over 37 million Americans have diabetes, and in the last 20 years, the number of adults diagnosed with the disease has more than doubled, according to the CDC. There is no cure, but healthy eating and an active lifestyle can help.

People’s Health Clinic CEO Dr. Mairi Leining helped author the report, which is unique in that it solely looks at uninsured, undocumented people.

That population faces significant hurdles when it comes to healthcare, such as food insecurity, living below the poverty level, illiteracy, and ineligibility for Affordable Care Act programs and Medicaid.

Leining said another variable adding to difficulties is free time, and the clinic looked into why some patients weren’t making it to their medical appointments.

“We found out it’s because some of them were being labor trafficked, and couldn’t get a day off for 60 days,” Leining said. 

“We found that others would get fired if they showed up, or that others were depending on a friend of a friend to get a ride. If there was a snowstorm, everyone needed to make money shoveling snow. So when you start to take into all of these different factors, we really had to design a very flexible clinic where patients decided what day and time would be best for them to return on their schedule.”

She said clinic staff conducted home visits and dropped supplies off at workplaces for those really in a squeeze.

They also worked in partnership with other local nonprofits. Patients screened for food insecurity were referred to the Christian Center’s food bank, and Holy Cross Ministries helped with applications for patient assistance programs (PAPs).

Overall, they found that their program was a success, as they saw a “significant improvement” in average blood sugar levels despite the long list of public health barriers.

Leining said her goal with the research is to make undocumented residents a greater part of medical research.

“The undocumented immigrant population is sparsely evaluated in the research,” Leining said. “They’re not part of the census data. And unless something is measured, it doesn’t exist. And if it doesn’t exist, I can’t get funding for it.”

She also said she hopes to show that improved health outcomes are a real possibility.

“So in the Latinx culture, there’s this concept of fatalismo, like fatalism — once diagnosed with diabetes, you’re not going to get better, you’re going to die from it. There’s nothing anyone can do about it. And so overcoming that with our patients by showing them the reduction in the blood sugar, and our patients feeling much better physically, and the pride that they took in that was very rewarding for us.”

Leining said the paper is the first of many more to come out of the People’s Health Clinic, declaring that it now has a research department.

The diabetes study was published in Acta Diabetologica, Europe’s leading diabetes journal. A link to the full paper can be found here.

by Maren Jensen, KUTV – Wednesday, October 19th 2022

PARK CITY, Utah (KUTV) — The People’s Health Clinic is a free community clinic that takes care of the uninsured in Summit and Wasatch counties.

“What we do is serve as a safety net for people who otherwise would not have access to health care,” said Dr. Mairi Leining, CEO of People’s Health Clinic.

Dr. Leining says many people probably don’t realize there is a big wealth gap in the Park City area. But there are many people in the area who can’t get typical care.

“The majority of our patients are members of the Latinx community,” said Leining. “They’re really the hardworking members of our community who are staffing all of the resorts.”

SEE THE LIVE REPORT HERE

Tristan Lubina, DNP works at People’s Health Clinic as the Hypertension Program Director. People’s Health Clinic focuses on uninsured individuals in Summit and Wasatch Counties. PHC was awarded the Platinum level for this year’s Excellence in Blood Pressure Measurement and Control Award. Please enjoy Tristan’s presentation on Self Measured/Home Blood Preasure Monitoring which was submitted for review for this award.

KPCW | By Leslie Thatcher

Published July 11, 2022 at 3:33 PM MDT

The People’s Health Clinic is beefing up its women’s health offerings and has hired two new staff members dedicated to that responsibility.

Dr. Tania Bodnar has joined the People’s Health Clinic as its first Women’s Health Medical Director – a newly created position. Joining her will be nurse practitioner Elizabeth Jacobsen, a volunteer who will serve as the assistant medical director for women’s health.

CEO of the People’s Health Clinic Mairi (sounds like SORRY) Leining (LINING) says this commitment to women is in part due to the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade – a ruling that took away a woman’s federal right to an abortion – leaving it up to individual states to decide whether a woman can receive an abortion.

A fundraiser later this month, Walk and Wine, will support Bodnar’s salary. Leining says the fundraiser will also help raise the standard of women’s health care at the clinic for family planning services.

“It is to purchase birth control pills for our patients, as well as emergency contraception,” Leining said. “So, we can actually give our patients medications directly when they come to clinic. We also use the funding to get IUDs and implants; all forms of birth control, which, again, our patients are uninsured and the costs of birth control, it’s very expensive.”

She said there’s a big need for more health care for women. The number of requests for women’s health visits, she says have gone up by about 70% in the last year.

“In addition to that,” Leining said, “we have a lot of medically complicated patients and to have somebody with her [Dr. Bodar’s] level of training and years of experience is just really meaningful for improving the standard of care we can offer women in our town.”

More than 60 years after the approval of oral contraception, the Food and Drug Administration recently received its first application to supply a birth control pill over the counter without a prescription. The French company that filed the application, HRA Pharma, told the New York Times that the timing of the submission – just weeks after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade is just a coincidence.

Leining says the clinic wants to make sure women have easy access to affordable birth control.

“It’s just really important to make sure community members around you who may not have health insurance or may not be eligible for government subsidies, know about People’s Health Clinic,” Leining said. [That they] know that we have free contraception available and counseling services. I just want to make sure that we’re able to give women the upper hand as much as possible during this time.”

Leining added that in the last year, the clinic has created a program for same-day contraception. What that means is even if the clinic can’t make an appointment for a full health exam for another month, anyone who is uninsured and needs birth control immediately can call the People’s Health Clinic, and Leining says they will get them in that day.

Join us for our 2022 Walk & Wine event at Stein Eriksen Lodge in Deer Valley. The event is July 31st from 10:30am to 2:00pm. You can join us for morning yoga or a hike at Deer Valley and ride the chairlift down, or just join us for the 12:30 Luncheon at the Lodge—all in support of women’s health services and healthcare for those most in need in our community. Only a few tickets remain, to buy a table or tickets, you can go here!