The HEAL Story

          The HEAL story began back in the Fall of 2003, when Stella de la Vega and Luis Quiñones, then post-bac premedical students at SF State, initiated a conversation about what they could do to increase access to health care for those who slip through the gaping holes in our society’s care networks. Deciding it was time to take action, Stella and Luis looked around for a student organization that shared their goals. When they found that no such group existed, they took matters into their own hands: they wrote up a constitution for a new SFSU student organization. But what would they call this new group? The founders decided that the “HEAL” acronym  as well as the group’s full name—Health Education and Access Link—conveyed the primary missions of the organization: to educate people, especially those in low-income communities, about health and wellness, and to provide the often-missing link that connects the uninsured with health coverage.

          In HEAL’s early days, the founders spent their time building up a network of like-minded souls as well as volunteering with some of the organizations that would become HEAL’s community partners. Stella began working with Operation Access, a group that provides out-patient surgical procedures at no cost. Luis, meanwhile, forged what would become a lasting partnership with San Francisco Heath Plan, a City-sponsored insurance plan that is able to enroll low-income families at low cost through goverment programs such as MediCal, Healthy Kids & Young Adults, Healthy Families, and Healthy Workers. By Spring 2004, Professor Ramón Castellblanch, a health care reform activist and member of SFSU’s Health Education department, was named HEAL’s faculty sponsor, and HEAL began tabling on campus to recruit student members. In May 2004, during National Cover the Uninsured Week, HEAL members took part for the first time in one of San Francisco Health Plan’s enrollment events, in which uninsured families and individuals are able to sign up on the spot for health care coverage. Fall 2004 found HEAL in full swing, with a complete roster of officers, a largely HEAL-powered Operation Access event (the biggest yet held), and the invention of Doc Gator, a branch of HEAL devoted to educating kids about health and the human body. A large-scale San Francisco Health Plan enrollment event in January 2005 at Mission Dolores provided the setting for Doc Gator’s public debut.

The Spring of 2005 was an exciting semester for HEAL. With membership growing, the group decided to plan, publicize,  and host our own insurance enrollment event on the SF State campus. Timed to coincide with National Cover the Uninsured Week, the event was held on April 27, 2005, with some forty uninsured families completing applications for new coverage during the event. Later that week HEAL was proud to host a Health Policy Forum, in conjunction with Professor Debbie Leveen of SFSU’s Urban Studies department, featuring a panel of speakers who offered different perspectives on the central topic, “Beyond the Safety Net: Expanding Access to Primary Care.”

August 2005 brought with it the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, which, along with the gigantic social divide it uncovered, became a rallying point for the entire country. HEAL members were quick to respond, tabling to raise funds for donation and, as partners with Masters of Public Health students, assisting with San Francisco State’s “Katrina Teach-in” on November 15, 2005. In January 2006, two HEAL members traveled to New Orleans and volunteered with Common Ground Collective on the front lines of the ongoing clean-up effort. While hoping in these small ways to aid some of the Gulf Coast residents whom Katrina left homeless, HEAL members simultaneously set  out to help those who lacked shelter right here in San Francisco. To that end, many HEAL members served (and continue to serve) as regular volunteers with City Team, an organization that provides a variety of care services to The City’s homeless population.

HEAL has been more active than ever this spring. Professor Barry Rothman of SFSU’s Biology department, who is also the pre-health professions advisor at SFSU, joined HEAL as a faculty co-sponsor, and his years of advocacy experience and community involvement have already been a great asset in helping HEAL fulfill its mission. In March, HEAL members developed and implemented a program to teach nutrition to kids at high risk for becoming overweight at San Francisco General Hospital’s Healthy Lifestyles Clinic. HEAL sponsored a Health Fair on SF State campus on March 30, in which both on- and off-campus organizations and businesses showcased a variety of health- and wellness-related services so that students and community members could learn about resources available to them. On May 3, during National Cover the Uninsured Week, HEAL once again hosted a panel of speakers on the topic of expanding access to health care. As HEAL looks to the future, we see much that needs to be done. We also see that together we can make headway. The history of HEAL is being written as we speak. Or should I say, as we act.