Free clinic opens to serve Rockaways poor

The Rockaways continue to suffer one year after Hurricane Sandy, with many indigent people living in the narrow six-mile-long stretch between the upscale Five Towns to the east and Belle Harbor to the west.

This week, an organization known for bringing free medical care to countries in the Third World and war-ravaged regions, is bringing its services to the peninsula, opening Doctors of the World Rockaway Free Clinic at 230 Beach 102nd St. in Rockaway Beach.

Noah Barth, program coordinator, said the clinic, the group’s first such venture in the United States, would “provide free primary care service for uninsured residents of the Rockaways and neighboring communities.”

“We brought volunteer doctors to people in the Rockaways one week after the storm,” Barth said. “We saw that there was a shortage of health care access. Patients had a high incidence of untreated chronic disease and a lot of people were without health insurance.”

He said that patients had upper respiratory infections and chronic illnesses and mental health issues that could not be addressed since many doctors’ offices were closed. “A lot of these problems existed before Sandy,” said Barth; some people were in “really bad shape and hadn’t seen a doctor in months from before the storm. That helped us understand that it is an underserved community in need of medical services.”

The clinic’s medical director and nurse managers will be paid but most of the doctors and nurses working there will be volunteering their services, he said.

Roberta Gettinger, a Woodmere resident who works at the RotaCare free clinic in Uniondale, consulted with Barth.

“It’s fabulous,” Gettinger said.

The stated mission of Doctors of the World (Médecins du Monde — MdM), is to “provide emergency and long-term medical care to vulnerable populations while fighting for equal access to healthcare worldwide.”

They consider access to health care a human right and work to improve “access to quality medical services for populations affected by poverty, disease, conflict, natural disasters or health disparities … regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, age or political beliefs.”

Founded in Paris in 1980, the first group of doctors went to Afghanistan, El Salvador and Armenia.

By 2012, they had more than 300 programs in 79 countries.

The Rockaway clinic’s initial hours will be Thursdays from noon to 8 pm and Saturdays from 10 am to 2 pm. For information and an appointment call 718-634-4941.

Interested volunteers, especially doctors, nurses and physician’s assistants, can contact help@DoctorsOfTheWorld.org.