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United Indian Health Services
Vesper Society believes that a just society begins when everyone is well and that rural areas need more attention. We support organizations like United Indian Health Services which has been providing comprehensive healthcare to Native American communities in remote Northwest California for over 40 years. Recognizing a medical need not met by their current offerings, UIHS goes above and beyond to provide dental services. Twice a year, staff members pack up dental chairs, equipment, and computer and drive a narrow two-lane road through the mountains to set up shop at Libby Nix Community Center in Weitchpec. They live there for two weeks, providing much-needed dental services like exams, fillings, extractions, cleanings, and oral hygiene instruction. Tribal government leaders keenly understand the oral health crisis in their communities, and UIHS is working closely with the tribes to provide more consistent and comprehensive dental services to this community. Vesper supports UIHS efforts to build two dental clinics in the area. The Yurok Tribe declared a state of emergency in response to a series of suicides in 2015. UIHS filled a gap in mental health services at the elementary school level in response to this situation. When the state of emergency came to a close in February 2018, Vesper Society funding enabled UHIS to continue providing a culturally-based behavioral health services program for youth in the Weitchpec... Read More
Open Door Community Health Centers
Every day, Vesper Society links arms with leaders who are working to improve the health of their communities. In the face of overwhelming urbanization, Vesper Society cares about what happens in rural areas and is proud to support Open Door Community Health Centers new facility in Fortuna. Open Door brings a proven model of sustainable healthcare, opportunity, and access to healthcare to the Eel River Valley, a picturesque community in the southern part of rural Humboldt County, California. Forty-seven years after opening its first clinic, Open Door now has 13 health centers and three mobile vans and employs over 650 people. Many of the natural resource-based businesses in the Eel River Valley—the cornerstone of its economy—have closed. As a result, professionals, including medical providers, have relocated to find employment in urban areas. Healthcare access has become a real challenge for the community with limited options, facilities located far from home, and specialty services like dental and behavioral health nearly impossible to find locally. Open Door provides a primary care family doctor to more than one-third of the county’s population. And Open Door’s focus on the continuum of care, from illness prevention and health maintenance to disease management and treatment, improves patient and community health and attracts providers to the area. With continued support from Vesper Society and hundreds of individual community members, businesses, and foundations, in 2018 Open Door opened its new 32,000 square foot community health, dental, and behavioral health center in Fortuna. The new facility offers team-based, integrated comprehensive services, including telemedicine. When fully staffed, the clinic will be able to accommodate up to 180 patients per day. After nearly five years of planning and construction, the new, state-of-the-art medical facility has helped recruit and retain healthcare providers and has been a boost to the overall quality... Read More
Open Door Celebrates New Facility Grand Opening in Fortuna, CA
Every day, Vesper Society links arms with leaders who are working to improve the health of their communities. One such leader, Open Door Community Health Centers, brings a proven model of sustainable healthcare, opportunity, and access to healthcare to the Eel River Valley, a picturesque community in the southern part of rural Humboldt County, California. Forty-seven years after opening its first clinic, Open Door now has 13 health centers and three mobile vans and employs over 650 people. Many of the natural resource-based businesses in the Eel River Valley—the cornerstone of its economy—have closed. As a result, professionals, including medical providers, have relocated to find employment in urban areas. Healthcare access has become a real challenge for the community with limited options, facilities located far from home, and specialty services like dental and behavioral health nearly impossible to find locally. Open Door provides a primary care family doctor to more than one-third of the county’s population. And Open Door’s focus on the continuum of care, from illness prevention and health maintenance to disease management and treatment, improves patient and community health and attracts providers to the area. With continued support from Vesper Society, Open Door has opened a new 32,000 square foot community health, dental, and behavioral health center in Fortuna. After nearly five years of planning and construction, the new, state-of-the-art medical facility has helped recruit and retain healthcare providers and has been a boost to the overall quality of life in the area. Families, employers, and retirees are all feeling more hopeful now that there are increased health services available in the community. “We almost felt forgotten here in Fortuna. The long-term doctors were moving away, and nobody was replacing them. I have not had a primary care doctor for the past four years. Now I do... Read More
Clinicas Builds New Medical Facility in Imperial County
Vesper Society is committed to improving the health and well-being of communities. One way we do this is by supporting Clinicas de Salud del Pueblo. Clinicas de Salud del Pueblo (Clinicas) was established in 1970 and is a Federally Qualified Health Center offering services at eleven clinics to everyone regardless of their ability to pay. This is a valuable service in the geographically-isolated Imperial County in California’s vast southeastern desert where social and economic demographics create many barriers to healthcare. In particular, lack of transportation causes many patients to have difficulty getting to their appointments and often to miss their much-needed follow-up appointments, x-ray, or lab work at another location. With a constant flow of bi-national agricultural workers, tourists, and residents crossing the nearby U.S./Mexico border daily, Clinicas’ expertise lies in its ability to serve and treat a large Latino, primarily Spanish-speaking, mostly uninsured population. Their client base includes economically disadvantaged adults and youth, migrant and seasonal farm workers, and a population with high unemployment. Vesper has provided Clinicas with support to establish a comprehensive pediatric asthma program, develop telemedicine services, and support their integrated behavioral health program. Clinicas serves a large community, and their current 12,000 square foot building is at capacity. Construction on a new 42,000 square foot medical facility—scheduled to open in December 2018—is currently underway in El Centro, California. The new state-of-the-art medical facility will be the largest in Imperial County and will expand Clinicas’ medical, radiology, and behavioral departments, expand the training internship program, and add new services to include dental, pharmacy, and ophthalmology. A significant community benefit of the new facility is its ability to be a “one-stop shop,” addressing many of the transportation barriers Clinicas clients face. The new facility will also serve as Clinicas’ corporate headquarters. Given its nature of migrant... Read More
Remembering Robert Brorby (1925-2018)
To live out a vision of vocation where lay people actively shape the social implications of their faith: This is how Bob Brorby lived his life. Following graduation from the School of Law (Boalt Hall) of the University of California at Berkeley in 1951, Bob practiced civil litigation for 47 years. That was his profession. His vocation was to relate the social concepts of his Christian faith not simply to his professional life but to the whole of life. The Lutheran Church and Vesper Society became the vehicles for that deeper and wider engagement. Bob’s commitment to the institutional church included service at the local, regional and national levels. He worshipped at Grace Lutheran Church in Richmond, California for 56 years, where he sang in the choir and served on the church council and in other ways. He served 24 years on the board of directors of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary where he chaired the board during the 1970s. Bob served on the Executive Board of the Pacific Southwest Synod of the Lutheran Church in America and the Executive Council of the national denomination and he served on the Commission for a New Lutheran Church which formed the current Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. However, it was through Vesper Society that Bob’s primary interest – the ministry of the laity in daily life – was most satisfied. “It allowed me to get outside of my workday world and really be a part of trying to effect policy in government and institutions,” he said. Bob crossed paths with the two late Vesper co-founders, Gene Heckathorn and Bob Cummings, long before 1965 when they came up with the idea of Vesper Society – a concept and network that would involve a community of lay persons dedicated to apply their financial and... Read More