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May 23, 2014

Witnessing a Legacy Unfold through Nearly 130 Years of Combined Service

A vital component of Mission Neighborhood Health Center’s legacy for the past 47 years is serving its many generations of families in the community.   Dolores Ramirez, Sharon Lam and Frances Allen have nearly 130 combined years of service witnessing the legacy unfold.  Together they offer a rich perspective of the organizations origins, history, and growth.

Left to right: Sharon Lam, Frances Allen, and Dolores Ramirez,

Dolores Ramirez was 20 years old when she volunteered part-time at MNHC in late 1969 to serve as a census tracker.  She lived three blocks away, was studying social work at City College and had extra time on her hands. Those days, MNHC was housed in a building on South Van Ness, after its first years in a trailer in a parking lot outside what is now its headquarters.

Although her bilingual capabilities were attractive to the staff at MNHC, it was likely her flexibility, talent and commitment to helping the underserved, especially new immigrants that got her noticed.  As a young teenager, Dolores immigrated to the States with her father and landed in Santa Monica.  “I was one of the only immigrants in my neighborhood and I didn’t feel accepted,” said Dolores. “No one helped us and my teachers were unkind.”  Based on that experience, Dolores vowed she would help others in her situation when she got older.

She quickly was hired full-time, coincidentally on her 21^st birthday, working as a receptionist, a floater giving her a view into all clinical services and then a supervisor.  “I felt so fortunate to be able to move around, since I love change and new challenges,” said Dolores. “There’s always something new to learn.”

Today, Dolores serves as the Director of Patient Services, as she has for the past 25 years, responsible for overseeing registration, the switchboard, patient reception, Medi-Cal eligibility, Healthy San Francisco eligibility, the Hardship and Homeless Program, and patient grievance procedures at all clinics and locations.

“Although, I have been an administrator here for years, what still thrills me the most is helping new immigrants,” Dolores added.  “The one-on-one interactions are truly gratifying.”

Sharon Lam has a shy smile and a quiet nature.  Although she prefers to be in the background she was willing to share her experience at MNHC.  Born in Canton, China and raised in Hong Kong, she immigrated to the US when she was 9 years old.  She began her career at MNHC as a dental assistant in 1971, after a referral from her instructor at dental school.  At the time, MNHC offered dental care, and a host of other services long since discontinued.  When the dental department closed in 1982, after federal funding for supplementary services ceased, Sharon, pregnant with her second child, took the advice of MNHC’s Director at the time and applied for a position in the billing department.

In the early days, she handled claims then completed by hand and mailed or faxed to payors.  “I have seen a lot of changes in billing since those days when we had to cut labels and put them on forms for Medi-Cal claims,” she said.  For the past, 32 years she has served as a third-party billing specialist now availing herself of all the technology available to process the many MNHC claims.

When asked why she has stayed for 43 years, Sharon said quietly, “I feel comfortable here, so I figured, why go anywhere when you’re OK.   It’s hard to believe it has been so long.”  After a pensive moment, she added “It’s a lot like a family with lots of siblings, aunts and uncles. I’ll retire from here one day.  I have enjoyed the journey.”

Mission Neighborhood Health Center fully understands the value of its employees allowing them the opportunity to further their careers with movement within the clinic.  This was especially prevalent in the early days when staff was limited and needs were abundant.   Frances Allen was lucky enough to take advantage of that during her years at MNHCS.

Frances Allen, born and raised in San Francisco, was first introduced to MNHC in late    1969 when, as a young mother who lived in the neighborhood, she joined the on-call typing pool at the South Van Ness offices part-time for a couple months. Shortly thereafter, she had the opportunity to become a full-time employee and learn more about the medical field through a program at MNHC that trained community members in areas such as medical terminology and how to interact with patients. Upon graduation, trainees were able to pick an area of interest at the clinic; Frances chose to become an outreach worker for the low-income clinic, an alternative for patients who were using the emergency room for visits at San Francisco General Hospital.

After returning from maternity leave for her second child, Frances joined the medical records team, in the 70’s when everything was done manually, a far cry from MNHC’s electronic medical records today.  Her experience in medical records gave her the opportunity to move to the billing department where she was the first person chosen to become an ICD/CPT coder through a certificate-training program funded by MNHC.  She continued to grow and became billing specialist, then transferred to payroll and accounts payable department to work with the team there. Eventually, she returned to billing as a third –party billing specialist and today serves as the data supervisor, a position she has held for the past 25 ₊ years.

When asked why she stayed at MNHC for her whole career, Frances said, “I had opportunities to leave to go to San Francisco General and Laguna Honda, but I like the environment here and wanted to stay, and it worked out well for my family.”

All three of the ladies share a similar perspective.  “There’s a real family feeling here,” Frances said.  “It has been fun to see it grow with the many generations of families working here.  Young mothers who brought their children to the clinic now work here and many of our employees’ children work here as well.”

No doubt there’s something great continuing to unfold at MNHC.

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