Press Release

Vesper Society Helps Fund New Urgent Care Clinic in Antioch

Affiliate of Sutter Delta Medical Center Focuses on Uninsured Population

Antioch, Calif., August 10, 2005 — The Vesper Society has pledged $750,000 through February 2008 in support of the Antioch community and to help fund the new Sutter Delta Medical Center (SDMC) Urgent Care Clinic.  To improve treatment for uninsured patients with non-urgent health issues and relieve pressure on the hospital’s emergency room, SDMC opened the clinic on June 17. Vesper’s generous pledge helped fund a portion of the clinic’s construction and its ongoing operation.

Staffed by a nurse practitioner and two administrative employees, the clinic currently operates from 6 to 10 p.m. Friday through Tuesday.  It will eventually open daily and is projected to treat up to 600 patients per month.  Patients are charged on a sliding scale based on their income.

The need for an urgent care clinic in Antioch is serious: 14 percent of those being treated at the nearby SDMC emergency room lack insurance, and 92 percent do not require emergency care.

“We’re caring for patients who don’t have primary care physicians, and weren’t able to make it to other clinics that are only open during the day,” says Daryn Kumar, an assistant administrator at SDMC who oversees the clinic’s operations. “This important community resource allows us to more appropriately treat patients with non-urgent ailments while saving the emergency room for patients who most need that high level of care.”

Based in San Francisco, Vesper Society funds a number of faith-based healthcare and social service initiatives in the Bay Area and overseas.  Sacramento-based Sutter Health is a family of not-for-profit hospitals and physician organizations that share resources and expertise to advance health care quality.  Sutter facilities and caregivers serve more than 100 communities throughout Northern California.