“I started feeling sick and my cousin told me about this clinic,” she said.
After a consultation with physician Arbi Ghazarian, Ascencio learned she was anemic and had extremely low platelet count, among other problems.
“I didn’t know I was so sick,” Ascencio said.
She was admitted to the Glendale Adventist Medical Center for a week.
“[Ascencio] has a very complicated condition,” said Ghazarian, noting that she needed multiple blood transfusions. “She needs prevention.”
Ascencio was like many of the patients Ghazarian and the clinic’s other staff see — they have chronic conditions that need constant maintenance through medical supervision and prescription drugs. Without regular treatment, their conditions worsen and can result in costly hospitalizations.
The Free Clinic operates each Tuesday night, and is run entirely by volunteers that see around 60 patients in the four hours it’s open. Ghazarian directs a team of doctors and nurses who volunteer their time, most on top of working full-time jobs.
Ghazarian has a busy family practice that eats up 60 hours of his week.
Dr. Martin Montoro comes to the clinic from his work as an endocrinologist at the Los Angeles County USC Medical Center.
“We try to give back to the community for people who are down on their luck,” said Montoro, who added that the staff has been taken aback by the amount of patients coming to them lately.
“I think we have all been surprised. Glendale is not perceived as a community that needs this,” he said.
The growing patient population is an indicator of how the national recession is hitting close to home, he said.
