Father Joe’s Las Vegas Village Celebrates Clinic Grand Opening
Prototype Clinic Will Provide Area’s Homeless and Hospitals Relief

   LAS VEGAS — Father Joe Carroll’s Las Vegas homeless rehabilitation center, M.A.S.H. Village, will hold the grand opening of its free medical clinic on Thursday,

   The clinic will be a cooperative effort between M.A.S.H. Village and four area medical facilities—Lake Mead Hospital, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), the University of Nevada Medical School (UNSOM) and University Medical Center (UMC).

   The partnership with these area medical facilities will be the vital component of the clinic, said Harvey Mandel, Chief Operating Officer of Father Joe’s Villages, M.A.S.H.’s parent organization. The mutual benefits of such a clinic include the abundance of fresh talent from the medical schools and the curricular opportunities and challenges presented to the students by a diverse and ever-changing group of individuals, coupled with the afflictions from which these individuals are seeking respite.

   The ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place at 3:30 p.m. at the M.A.S.H. complex, located at 1581 North Main Street and will include appearances by Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, Villages President Father Joe Carroll and the Board of Directors, other government officials and M.A.S.H. administrators.
Modeled after San Diego’s own St. Vincent de Paul Village clinic, the new facility will provide diagnoses and treatments to Village residents, non-residents and other medically under-served members of the Las Vegas community. Additionally, the clinic will help to reduce the ever-growing costs incurred by area hospitals from emergency room visits by homeless individuals.

   "As with any individual, emergency room treatment of day-to-day illnesses and conditions is an ineffective and expensive alternative to traditional healthcare," said Bill Moore, Chief of Staff at Lake Mead Hospital. "In addition to the cost factor, we often see complications that would not exist if these minor ailments were treated in timely fashion. In some cases, this kind of intermediary clinic makes the difference between a long hospital stay, the loss of a limb or even death. It’s the epitome of the old adage about ‘an ounce of prevention versus a pound of cure.’ "

   "The clinic demonstrates the importance of community networking in its
effort to bring services to the area," Mandel said. "Through this collaborative
spirit, volunteer assistance and donations of medical supplies and services, the clinic is expected to provide more than 10,000 patient visits this year to nearly 2,500 unduplicated individuals."

   In addition to medical care, the clinic will undertake groundbreaking research projects, which are aimed at shedding light on the often misinterpreted homeless population. Studies will explore everything from the monetary impact on the region’s urgent care facilities to the problems facing elderly individuals with limited or no access to affordable health care.

   A psychiatric assessment component is even planned for the future, which project organizers hope will provide insight into mental illness solutions for homeless individuals. M.A.S.H.’s sister-Village in San Diego has put in place its own psychiatric assessment and treatment program, which Las Vegas clinicians hope to include in their regimen of proactive outreach.

   After developing a basic level of trust, doctors at St. Vincent’s assess clients for potential mental illness and then suggest necessary treatments to bring the patients up to functionality. Once stabilized, these clients may then be enrolled in one of the Village’s rehabilitative programs or referred to an appropriate outside agency. Mandel said M.A.S.H. Village is poised to meet the needs of its clients much in the same way.

   "We one day plan to develop a homeless research institute," said Mandel. "Any time you have an established level of trust in an otherwise reclusive group of people, it allows you to gather information that would, for all intents and purposes, be inaccessible. Our network of facilities leads the nation in homeless research, and this new M.A.S.H. Village program, with help from its partners, may likely become the standard by which similar research groups are measured."

For more information on the clinic and its grand opening, please call Harvey Mandel at (619) 687-1029.

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