RotaCare Bay Area Inc. is a non profit 501(c)3 public benefit corporation that provides free medical care to people with the greatest need and the least access to medical care. Our speaker, Tammy Janosik is the Executive Director of  RotaCare Bay Area. Before accepting the ED role Tammy was the Site Administrator of the Clinic at Washington School that our Rotary club has supported since 1997. RotaCare Bay Area was formed in 1989 when a local Rotarian, Dr. Mark Campbell and his Rotary Club identified the need of many local residents who had limited access to primary healthcare services. They resolved to meet the need with a clinic in Santa Clara. Since then, RotaCare Bay Area has grown to 11 clinics in Concord, Daly City, Gilroy, Half Moon Bay, Monterey, Mountain View, Pittsburg, San Jose, San Leandro, San Rafael, and Santa Cruz and will soon open the twelfth clinic in Richmond. RotaCare Bay Area, Inc. offers quality healthcare services to those who are uninsured or under insured. 

RotaCare Bay Area, Inc. harnesses the skills and hearts of local physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacist, interpreters, social workers, and many others who all volunteer their time to provide basic primary health services free of  charge to the patients. RotaCare has more than 1500 active volunteers running their Bay Area clinics. Most of the clinics are open one or two nights per week, but one is a full-time clinic. The clinics often share a location with a school health center or hospital clinic, but are also located in community centers. RotaCare is only limited by the number of volunteers they can recruit and funds they can raise, because the need for affordable medical care is ever present. 

Last year RotaCare had over 29,000 patient visits at their 11 clinics. Almost two thirds of their patients are living below the federal poverty level. The remainder of their patients live just slightly above the poverty level.  They are the working poor, men and women who work for pay without benefits and who cannot afford health insurance or doctor visits. Without RotaCare, patients would have no choice but to use hospital emergency rooms as their source of primary care. Using hospital emergency rooms for non-emergency problems is not an efficient use of our health resources and drives healthcare costs up for all of us because the care for uninsured patients is passed on in higher health care premiums and out of pocket expenses.

RotaCare does not receive any federal or state funding. They rely solely on the generosity of Corporate donations, Foundations, and Individual donors.