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How
Was Rotacare Formed?
In 1989 a family practice physician
with a practice in Campbell, California was asked to
see homeless patients residing in a shelter at Agnews
Development Center in Santa Clara, California without
charge. Dr. Mark Campbell and his wife, Renata, responded
to the call.
A
new Rotarian, Dr. Campbell approached his
Rotary Club for help in funding the drugs needed to
treat the patients he was seeing. Dr. Campbell’s
club was in District 5170. When the District Governor,
John Fisher, heard of the effort he became interested
in taking it to other Rotary clubs in the district.
It wasn’t long before these two leaders had interested
other Rotarians and community members in their dream
and formed a charter board. They shortened "Rotary
Cares" to form the name and RotaCare was born.
From
the beginning
everyone involved agreed that it was critical to provide
care to those least able to obtain it and that the care
and the medications needed to treat the patient must
be provided free of charge. This resolution became the
mission of RotaCare.
As
other clubs within District 5170 heard of
the work being done in Santa Clara, they became interested
in starting a clinic within their own community. Ken
Graham, the first Executive Director of RotaCare, went
to his club in Morgan Hill, California and the neighboring
club in Gilroy to start the second and third clinics.
As these clinics formed, they realized that to sustain
a clinic over time they had to recruit a large pool
of volunteers instead of depending on one or two people
to staff the clinic. This became the model on which
all RotaCare clinics are based.
In
today’s world, medical professionals
are able to provide charity care only if they are covered
by the necessary insurances. The board went through
a 3-year process of incorporating, obtaining 501(c)(3)
status, trade marking the RotaCare name throughout the
United States, writing the policies and procedures that
allowed the clinics to be licensed by the State of California
and obtaining malpractice and other insurances.
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