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ST. ANTHONY FREE
MEDICAL CLINIC
Restoring Health, Hope and Human Dignity
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Dr. Katy Broner,
named one of the Bay Area’s top 500 doctors by San
Francisco magazine, tries to make St. Anthony Free Medical
Clinic the kind of welcoming place where she would send her
own daughter. |
About seven years ago, Dr. Katy Broner made
a list of everything her dream job would include. “When I saw
the ad for a pediatrician at St. Anthony Free Medical Clinic, my
list was right there in the job description.”
Today, Dr. Broner provides drop-in appointments,
routine physicals, and well baby checks to patients who might be
living in shelters, Single Room Occupancy hotel rooms, or in cramped
studios with up to 10 members of their extended family. Despite
such challenges, Dr. Broner is glad to work at a free clinic.
“I wanted to work at a place where
I wouldn’t have to turn away people without insurance,”
says Dr. Broner. “I like the focus on caring for the patients.
My goals are to make this the kind of clinic that I would want my
own daughter to come to, to provide comprehensive care, and to find
children a medical home who don’t have access to any other
medical home.”
Combining Compassion with Excellence
Dr. Broner is one of 23 paid staff and eight volunteers who provide
primary medical care to uninsured children and adults. Like most
of the Clinic staff, Dr. Broner is bilingual; the Clinic provides
services in Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Mien, Laotian, Thai, Vietnamese,
French, and American Sign Language. And like all her Clinic colleagues,
Dr. Broner combines compassion and excellence in her work: in 2001,
she was named as one of the Bay Area’s top 500 doctors by San
Francisco magazine.
The Clinic provides 15,000 patient visits
annually to adult and pediatric patients. In the 1950s, the Clinic
began as a TB screening and first aid station in the Dining Room.
It developed into a full-fledged clinic under the leadership of
Dr. Francis Curry, a former head of the Department of Public Health
in San Francisco who served as the Clinic’s medical director
for many years. Today, the Clinic provides everything from smoking
cessation classes and HIV screenings to podiatry and allergy services.
Patients also receive many of their medications free of charge through
the Clinic’s pharmacy.
About three-quarters of Dr. Broner’s
patients are Mexican or Central American immigrants, with others
from Southeast Asia, Yemen, as well as the United States. Many face
hunger, malnutrition, and — paradoxically — obesity, because
fast food and other inexpensive meals are high in fat but low in
nutrition. Others display developmental or language delays.
Healing the Whole Family
Dr. Broner works with child literacy programs to distribute free
books in Spanish and English to her patients. “Parents get
very excited when I tell them that new research shows that children’s
brains develop most in the first three years of life, and that it
will really help to read with their child. I’ll read a page
or two, so they can see how excited the child is about the interaction,
and how it can be a very special time for both of them.”
Dr. Broner also enjoys working with teenagers.
“If an adolescent is floundering, I try to find out what their
dreams for the future are, and provide encouragement and resources
to help them follow those dreams. For example, if somebody is really
interested in art, but nobody in their family knows anything about
art, I’ll try to connect them with a mentorship program.”
As a pediatrician, Dr. Broner looks not
just at a child’s sore foot or ear, but at the whole child
— and, ideally, the whole family. “Very often, it’s
not until the end of the visit that you hear their biggest concern
— the ‘Oh, by the way…’” This could include
emotional trauma, domestic violence, or alcoholism. Dr. Broner can
now refer families to an onsite psychologist who can help them with
such problems. Clinic staff often connect patients with other programs
both within and outside of St. Anthony Foundation which can help
with food, housing, clothing, counseling, and rehabilitation.
Dr. Broner says her work encompasses both
difficulty and joy. “Witnessing the depth of human suffering
is hard. We want to wave our magic wands and make it all better.
Sometimes we can do that, and then I feel great. When I can’t,
it’s really hard.
“One of the little joys of my day is
when a child comes in for the first time afraid, but leaves feeling
happy — and knowing I’ve changed that child’s experience
of visiting a clinic. We make it a warm, welcoming place, so the
next time they come they don’t mind seeing the doctor.”
Share your gifts with your homeless neighbors
— give to St. Anthony Foundation. Call (415) 241-2600 or click
here to learn more.
If you would like to be added to the St. Anthony Spirit newsletter mailing list, please call (415)
592-2738 or e-mail info@stanthonysf.org.
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