Alameda Health System – Eastmont Wellness Center

Contact Person: George K. Lee, OD, Director of Community Services

Clinical Teaching Faculty:
Kuniyoshi Kanai, OD, kunikanai@berkeley.edu Glen Ozawa, OD, glozawa@yahoo.com Melissa Valdellon, OD, mavaldellon@gmail.com

Type of Practice: Community Health Center

Overview

Eastmont Wellness Center is part of the Alameda Health System (AHS) Ambulatory Health Care Services network. The AHS is a public agency regulated by the State of California, though directed by a Board of Trustees. AHS’s primary mission is to provide health care to all County residents, regardless of ability to pay. This facility has been providing health care services to the residents of the East Bay for well over 130 years. Additionally it is a training institution for many health care students, residents, interns, and is active in medical research. There are several hospitals and health centers that form the network of AHS. Fairmont Hospital in San Leandro, San Leandro Hospital in San Leandro, John George Psychiatric Hospital in San Leandro, and Highland Hospital in Oakland form the hospital system. Additionally there are several Ambulatory Health Care Services centers that serve the community. These are the Highland Wellness Center in Oakland, the newly opened Hayward Wellness Center in Hayward and the Newark Health Center in Newark.

Eastmont Wellness Center

The Eastmont Wellness Center is located in Oakland at the former Eastmont Mall. This is a multi-disciplinary health care organization with services that include Adult Medicine, ob-gyn, Women’s Services, Dental, Pediatrics, Podiatry, and Senior Health Care among others. Optometry Services began in October 2002, which is provided through an affiliation between AHC and the University of California, School of Optometry.

Prerequisites:

• 4^th year clinicians: satisfactory completion of 3rd year clinics
• 3^rd year clinicians: satisfactory completion of summer clinic and honor status

Demographics:

• Mix of patients from newborn to the elderly
• Primarily East Bay residents
• Large African American and Hispanic population
• Low income, county and medi-cal patients

Patient Services Provided:

• Optometry services will be provided Monday through Satruday
• Hours are from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM
• Primarily young adults and older, majority being adults and seniors with diabetes and cataracts; patients may be self appointed, but most are referred by other health care providers from either Eastmont Wellness Center or one of the affiliate ambulatory health centers.
• Full scope optometry care, limited to examination services only at this time.

Optometry Clinic:

• There are three fully-equipped exam rooms and a smaller room set up for auxiliary testing such as visual field testing.
• Additionally, there is a fourth room with photography and OCT set-ups.
• The AHS staff will check in optometry patients. Patients are escorted to and from Optometry rooms by our own team.
• Patients are scheduled every 30 minutes for examinations. A team approach (1 faculty member, 1 resident, 3-4 student clinicians) will be used, where one clinician may be doing the pre-testing; another the refraction up to drops; and another finishing off with the dilation. Estimate time for the pre-testing (VA, FDT) is 15 minutes maximum; dilation and consultation 15 minutes; history, refraction, SLE, drops 20 minutes. The schedule is set up in units of 15 minutes. Any follow up should be rescheduled according to # of units.

Equipment

• The exam rooms are fully equipped, however students may want to bring their own diagnostic equipment. The center is not responsible for any student equipment left behind.

Educational Objectives

• Experience optometry care within a multi-disciplinary health care setting.
• Opportunity to interact with other health care professionals
• Inter and intra clinical referral procedures and protocols
• Opportunity to work with diverse group of ethnicities and primarily low-income
• Efficient assessment and evaluation of patient cases is expected
• Ability to manage, assess ocular manifestations of systemic diseases; treat ocular diseases within the scope of CA optometry guidelines
• Expect ability to perform examinations efficiently in a fast paced, team approach designed clinic

Resident/Student Responsibilities

• Provide care to a large volume of patients, approximately 22-24 patients per day seen by the clinicians.
• Seminar and case discussions
• Communicate with other health care providers
• Referrals to other health care providers
• Complete all referral/consultations request forms for each patient
• Complete all necessary examination services coding for billing
• Ability to work efficiently and cooperatively with attending OD, resident and students

Faculty Responsibilities

• Facilitates efficient patient flow among faculty, resident and student
• Provide direct patient care as necessary
• Facilitates appropriate inter or intra clinical referral/consultation
• Mentors resident and student in patient care
• Evaluates resident and student clinical performance
• Seminar, grand rounds and case discussions

Transportation:

• From University Eye Center, exit onto Piedmont Ave to Claremont. Take the 580 going East to the Edwards Avenue exit. Turn right on Edwards, then bear right on Sunkist Drive, (this changes into Hillmont Dr), then turn left on 73rd Ave. Continue on 73rd Ave to Foothill Blvd, then turn right into the Eastmont Mall to the Wellness Center. There is plenty of parking at this huge lot. (Recommendation: If you drive and park, secure your valuables and lock in your trunk!) Note: an alternative route is to take Highway 13 from campus and merge onto the 580, then take the Edwards Avenue exit. Public transportation is also available by Bart or AC Transit.

Miscellaneous:

• Due to the heavy schedule, bringing your lunch is recommended, although lunch period is scheduled. There is a McDonald’s, Taco Bell, KFC just outside the mall and other eateries in the mall.
• Please familiarize yourself with these exam forms that are used at ACMC: FORMS.

Absence Policy:

• Please note that the absence policy for AHS Eastmont Wellness Center requires that students submit absence requests via Meditrek at least SIX WEEKS in advance of the desired absent date. This is due to Alameda Health Systems’ internal patient scheduling policy.