Grisel Burgos-Barreto, Edison MartÃnez-Monegro and German Garcia
Background: Access to primary care services in low-income rural and urban areas of Puerto Rico remains a significant public health challenge. Punto Esperanza Clinic (PEC) is a free primary care medical clinic in the urban area of Santurce, which is a densely populated, low-income area with a mixed local Puerto Rican and immigrant community. The present study aims to establish a sociodemographic and clinical profile of the patient population at PEC.
Methods: Sociodemographic and clinical data were collected from clinical interviews and surveys provided to participants over a two-year period from 2018 to 2020.
Results: The population (145) between ages 22-97 years that received medical care services at Punto Esperanza Clinic from January 2018 to March 2020, had a mean age of 60.6. In addition, 57.9% were males and 32.2% were single. The majority of participants received their income from government benefits (23.4%) and 90.1% lived in San Juan, PR. On the clinical aspect, the analysis based on reported medical conditions, categorized by body system, the leading cause of disease were cardiovascular disease (51.9%), this was followed by endocrine conditions (32%), psychiatric conditions (18.9%), gastrointestinal conditions (15%), respiratory conditions (11.3%), and immunological conditions (11.3%).
Conclusion: Given these results, more research is encouraged to examine current healthcare protocols and develop ways to provide better access to primary care in the vulnerable community around and near Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico in the future.
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