3 minute read
How a Non-Profit Organization May Save Your Life
Adamari Cota she/her
I wasn't fully aware of the circumstances our society was facing until I got the chance to see it in person when I volunteered at the Flying Doctors event in September 2021 .
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Flying Doctors is an organization that provides free dental, optometry, and health services to communities in critical need. That day I also realized that I wasn't the only one who wanted to see a change. There were over 300 volunteers waiting patiently at the entrances.
Seeing my community come to a space where they could receive free health access and not feel scared to get help was amazing.
Like many communities of color, many of the people of the Eastern Coachella Valley lack health insurance, distrust healthcare providers and have low socio-economic status. In addition to poverty, race and ethnicity are also critical factors that impact health access, especially in communities of color. Some people specifically fear going to doctors due to bad experiences of discrimination. People who have experienced trauma in the past may be more hesitant if they are afraid to go through their suffering again.
I know our people are struggling to seek health access and that is really heartbreaking. The level of dental pain people were feeling was alarming.
During the event there were many age ranges, I specifically remember helping an elderly man who was in such pain that he wasn’t able to communicate with me. This is one reason clinics like The Flying Doctors are so important in supporting communities that don’t have critical access to health care. The American Hospital Association states that 30 million people in the United States live without health insurance. This is equivalent to packing nearly four New York Cities onto the National Mall. This number is alarming not just to me but to many who are currently suffering.
Having resources such as the Flying Doctors in critical areas is essential and should be supported. On average, the organization serves as many as 1,200 people per event, according to a recent news article in The Desert Sun.
Not being able to receive health care could risk someone's life. I can’t imagine the pain and suffering someone has to deal with because of these circumstances.
Enrique Lopez, a volunteer at the Flying Doctors 2021, expressed his emotions and experience while volunteering at these events: “I honestly felt sick to my stomach,” he said. “The lack of access to healthcare is a problem in today's society…”
According to a Desert Sun article, “a few years ago…a clinician detected breast cancer in one of the patients at the free event.” A non-profit could save your life!
It is phenomenal that a free clinic could detect something life-threatening. So why aren't we giving them the support they need?
We often tend to shrug these problems aside and not realize how big of a problem it is. Finding the correct amount of volunteers for these services is difficult, and non-profit organizations face lots of challenges each day. One challenge is limited government funding. Unit4 Communications states, "Most nonprofits end up getting less funding than they want or need, while some are left with no funding at all.” With these challenges, sometimes it is hard to continue giving out services. Nevertheless, we still try our best, and that's what we should all do.
Throughout the years, there have been many myths about health nonprofit organizations. One of them is that nonprofits are large when in reality most nonprofits are small in the number of employees as well as budget size. They usually rely on volunteers and foundations, which, according to the National Council of Nonprofits, “represent only 14% of the total annual revenue to the charitable nonprofit community.”
Not everyone lives in a circumstance where they can just go to a doctor when they feel like it. In communities where people can’t always afford healthcare, we need to change our perspective on nonprofits. As we lead these myths into our thoughts we are often left with a bad perspective about some organization or might even make assumptions.
Hours before the Flying Doctors clinic opened that day in September, people were lined up. In the hot Coachella heat, hundreds of people showed up just for the opportunity to get free medical care. It was powerful.
In addition, not many people can afford healthcare, and money plays a key role, in some ways, our system is cheating and delegating responsibilities to non-profits to fill in the gap. The truth is that if we had health justice in the world many communities wouldn't have to suffer daily. Besides money shouldn't play a role in whether were healthy or not. Health is a fundamental right, not a privilege.
