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Not quite so welcoming were threats of violence Dr. Giorgi was subjected to through anonymous telephone calls. "You're just a matchstick away from nothing," warned one Watts doctor. "Your clinic will burn yet." But patiently building confidence and trust, she won the community over. The Health Center that emerged embodies Dr. Giorgi's progressive medical philosophy. "We must put the physician back into his community, using all the paramedical services—especially the social worker."
Reaching into Homes. At the Watts Health Center, unlike most clinics, the first person a patient sees is a doctor. He is given a medical examination by another physician who can call in a specialist in almost any field of modern medicine. The doctor becomes the patient's personal physician, controlling treatment regardless of the number or stature of staff members and specialists brought in on the case. "If the patient is simply troubled," says Dr. Giorgi, "the physician sees him a few times, then begins sending him to the social health team—to the nurse, social worker, or whomever he relates to best."
This care extends to the patient's entire family. Health agents, who are actually Watts laymen trained and briefed at the center, visit the homes of their neighbors, explaining the Health Center's operation and following through on its recommendations. They teach sanitation and nutrition, report on the needs of individual families. Sometimes the patients who initially come to the clinic need less medical attention than the ones who stay on at home.
OEO is now paying all medical care costs of the center, estimated at $90 per patient per year. Ultimately, the center plans to serve 32,000 Watts patient —free of charge—with a probable annual operating budget of $3,900,000, including dental and preventative medicine and training programs. When complete it will provide a staff of 334, including 20 full-time physicians, 40 part-time specialists, a psychiatrist, a psychologist and twelve dentists, plus administrators, lab technicians, dental assistants and hygienists. Forty-one similar OEO-supported health centers are now being built across the country. Dr. Giorgi is now "training together" with a Negro physician who will run the center when she "phases herself out." When she leaves, there is little doubt that the community, circumspect and distrustful with most whites, will be swept by a deep personal loss. "If she goes," said one Negro social worker at the clinic, "she can never really be replaced."