Housing, food, child care, and energy bills often come before paying for doctor’s appointments in some low-income households, which can cause people to avoid primary, preventative care, leading to future emergency room visits—particularly in northern Santa Barbara County, according to Eryn Shugart.
Shugart is the executive director of Savie Health—a 501(c)3 nonprofit clinic based in Lompoc that provides primary care for people without medical insurance—which opened its doors in June in direct response to the growing need for affordable health care.
“Our focus is on health equity and to provide health care for people from all backgrounds, for people who may not be documented, and ensure that everybody has access to high quality health care with the goal of reducing the number of incidents in chronic health care conditions,” she said.
Savie Health is the brainchild of Dr. Ahmad Nooristani, founder of free SLO-based health care clinic the SLO Noor Foundation. After working at Lompoc Valley Medical Center, Nooristani saw a need to expand these services to Santa Barbara County, Shugart continued.
“We are important because I’ll say that Lompoc and Santa Maria have been designated to be medically underserved communities and health care provider shortage areas,” she said.
In the first eight weeks of opening its doors (for two days a week), Savie’s volunteer-based clinicians have seen more than 100 patients out of the Lompoc Valley Medical Center, and recently added behavioral wellness to its services, Shugart said.
“It was really intentional on my part to focus on adding behavioral health as soon as possible. Physical and emotional well-being are so connected; if someone is experiencing a lot of emotional challenges like depression and anxiety, those conditions impact their physical health,” she added.
By adding behavioral health, the clinic will be able to help the whole person, especially in light of COVID-19’s mental health impact. Savie Health added two licensed clinical social workers to help people find child care, housing, and transportation along with counseling for those experiencing mental health issues like depression and anxiety, Shugart said.
“Majority of our health care providers are local physicians here in Lompoc, and they are volunteering their time to see our patients—for which, of course, we are very grateful. I will say a lot of the patients we are seeing are people who have not been to the doctor for any number of years,” she continued.
Savie will also cover lab tests, X-rays, and mammograms and provide low-cost medications. Eventually, she said, the clinic would like to add cardiology, vision, pediatrics, and dental services. By 2023, Shugart said, she hopes the clinic will expand its services to four days a week, instead of two, but funding and finding specialists willing to see patients for free remains a concern.
“We are entirely donation-based, and so our services are not reimbursed by the government. All of our funding comes from grants and individuals. If we can’t raise enough money, it will be hard for us to continue to operate and expand our days and services,” she said.
Savie Health is still looking for people to coordinate volunteers and to help with marketing, and for additional health care providers along with general office volunteers. Call (805) 743-4776 or email eryn@saviehealth.org for more information.
Highlights
• Marian Regional Medical Center celebrated its ninth annual Day of Hope on Aug. 17 to support local cancer patients in need at Mission Hope Cancer Center. In partnership with the Santa Maria Times, the Day of Hope team sold special edition Day of Hope newspapers. Additionally, the organization held a community car parade, as well as a Friends of Cruzin’ for Life barbecue that benefitted this year’s event.
Taylor O’Connor wrote this week’s Spotlight. She can be reached at toconnor@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 18-25, 2022.
