Ravenswood Family Health Center Case Study

The Ravenswood Family Health Center (RFHC) is a federally qualified, non-profit community health center that serves the uninsured and low-income residents of San Mateo County. The clinic is located in East Palo Alto and serves mostly the surrounding neighborhoods which include Menlo Park and Redwood City. According to Ravenswood Family Health Center 2016 annual report, 95% of the patients are Latino, African America, or Pacific Islanders, 73% live at 100% of Federal Poverty Level, 40% are covered by Medi-Cal, 51% are uninsured, and 5% are homeless. RFHC started as a small facility located in portable office trailers with “a staff of 12 serving 2,300 [patients]” (Lee, 2017). Today RFHC provides world class service to more than 16,000 patients
RFHC opened its doors in 2001 and a year later a nurse with a master’s in public health, Luisa Buada, joined the organization determined to make healthcare accessible to the community. In her early days Buada “campaigned for Robert Kennedy and worked alongside Cesar Chavez during the United Farm Workers’ grape boycott” (L. Buada, personal communication, August 1, 2017). In 1978, when a clinic for the United Farm Workers closed its doors, Buada along with her nursing degree from the University of California, San Francisco and a box of sterile gloves, stood in the parking lot of the clinic to help those being turned away. Buada is a firm believer that “good health can fight poverty” (L. Buada, personal communication, August 1, 2017). By 1980 Buada has raised enough money to open her first facility, at age 27, in Salinas which offered care for migrant workers. In addition, Buada rescued a failing Watsonville clinic, Salud Para La Gente; which is a thriving clinic today and created the Primary Care Access Clinic in Berkeley before joining the Ravenswood Family Health Center. In 1990, Buada received her Master’s degree in Public Health Policy and Administration from the University of California, Berkeley. Buada’s vision is about “providing affordable, accessible health care to people in at-risk communities” (L. Buada, personal communication, August 1, 2017). In 2010 Buada was inducted into the San Mateo County Women’s Hall of Fame and in 2016 Buada was a finalist for the 2016 Visionary of the Year Award. The Visionary of the Year Award “salutes leaders who strive to make the world a better place and drive social and economic change by employing new, innovative business models and practices” (Asimov, 2016). As the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Buada’s vision and passion has allowed RFHC to transform into the modern