This Organization of Volunteer Physicians Is Working to Close the Gap in Health Equity

Champions for Health

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According to the US Census Bureau, more than 290,000 people in San Diego County under age 65 did not have health insurance in summer 2019.

Champions for Health, the philanthropic arm of the San Diego County Medical Society, has been working to close the gap in health equity ever since it founded Project Access in 2008. Its network of volunteer physicians provides pro bono services in 30 different medical specialties, and since the organization’s founding they have helped over 6,500 patients get the treatment and procedures they need.

“We actually do work, not just give out money,” says Adama Dyoniziak, executive director at Champions for Health. “We saw that prevention services were needed—and this was before the Affordable Care Act came into being.”

Before the pandemic, Project Access physicians annually provided about 120 patients with specialty care in everything from ophthalmology to cardiology. Although they are still providing these services to about 500 patients, the organization also geared up to help vaccinate the county’s most vulnerable populations.

Dyoniziak says they work with county officials to find the communities with the lowest insurance and immunization rates, and they set up vaccination sites there. Project Access volunteers have administered vaccines in skilled nursing facilities, for homebound patients and even at county shipyards. To date, they have trained 1,500 people in how to administer coronavirus vaccines, and they are currently giving flu shots seven days a week. Dyoniziak estimates that they work with 3,000 to 5,000 volunteers, but says they’re always in need of more help.