Near the location of the Free Clinic in Alhambra, California, there are many undocumented immigrant families without a home. These neighbors in need who typically don’t have access to health care can turn to the Tzu Chi Free Clinic when they fall ill. One local resident, Linda (a pseudonym), came down with a severe cold but felt self-conscious about her appearance.
Tzu Chi’s medical mission in the United States formed on the principle that Tzu Chi provides medical services to anyone with medical needs, regardless of nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender, or social and economic status. Thirty years later, the number of Americans who have received Tzu Chi’s medical services is ever-increasing, and the number is estimated to grow as Tzu Chi’s work continues across communities.
In 2023, Tzu Chi USA and its Northeast Region marked a medical care milestone since Tzu Chi’s 12th mobile clinic entered service, arriving in New York on November 29. This mobile clinic is equipped for dentistry, thus launching dental care outreach in the New York Metropolitan area.
The United States healthcare industry is ever-evolving, yet the scope of care does not reach all, and the financial strain is looming for many people.
All but overlooked due to Silicon Valley’s prosperity, the challenges of underprivileged families often go unaddressed. With this, generations of Tzu Chi volunteers have dedicated themselves to serving Northern California’s disadvantaged families with love, respect, and gratitude.
Fresno is an area with vast farms, where a farmworker’s life encompasses moving from place to place in a cycle dictated by crop cultivation and harvesting schedules. Even if Tzu Chi wants to provide free clinic services here, it’s hard to keep up with the agricultural workers’ migration, making mobile healthcare services the ideal way of offering medical care.
CHAPTER 5 Southern California Written by Jennifer ChienTranslated by H.B. Qin Published #72 | Spring 2024 Issue A dentist on Tzu Chi USA’s medical team
Tzu Chi USA’s first Mobile Clinic was put to use in 2000, bringing its services to remote and medically underserved areas. By the end of 2023, 12 active Tzu Chi Mobile Clinics, comprising services like dental and vision care, internal medicine, and cancer screenings, had been deployed in Northern, Central, and Southern California, New York, and Las Vegas.
Located on the western three-eighths of the island of Hispaniola, Haiti is the third largest and most populous country in the Caribbean. The beauty of this nation is often overshadowed, however, by overwhelming gang violence that has created a humanitarian crisis, in addition to worsening socioeconomic conditions that have gripped the people of Haiti for years.
Longstanding structural issues in the spheres of education, health care, wealth inequality, and more pose significant challenges for the people of Honduras. Political upheavals, including a 2009 coup, weakened human rights protections, and as indicated by data from the World Bank Group, the population of Hondurans living in poverty reached a staggering 57.7% in 2020.
