Byline: Jim Erickson News Staff Writer
When Dr. Larry Wolk founded Rocky Mountain Youth in 1996, he based it on a simple premise: All Colorado children deserve basic health care, regardless of their ability to pay.
About 200,000 Colorado kids are uninsured or underinsured, says the Denver pediatrician. Many of them don't receive regular checkups, vaccinations and the health-care services that other people take for granted.
``In an ideal world, every child would have insurance and a health-care provider, and they wouldn't need an organization like ours to pick up the pieces,'' Wolk said. ``But a lot of children and teen-agers are falling through the cracks.''
The nonprofit Denver-based organization started with $15,000 and treated 10,000 kids its first year. Today, Rocky Mountain Youth: Medical and Nursing Consultants serves 30,000 Colorado children and has an annual operating budget of about $1.5 million.
Rocky Mountain Youth is a network of pediatricians and nurses that provides health care to uninsured and underinsured children across the state.
The organization forged ties with schools, community centers, homeless shelters and nonprofit agencies.
``We try to go to where they are, as opposed to waiting for them to come to us,'' said director Carolyn de Rubertis. ``And we will not turn anyone away.''
Rocky Mountain Youth operates three hospital-based clinics and a health van that visits elementary schools in Aurora.
Inside the mobile health clinic's two exam rooms, children get checkups and vaccinations they would otherwise go without.
But Wolk said his vision of children's health care goes beyond stethoscopes and needles. Rocky Mountain Youth also operates a food bank, a clothing bank and a literacy program that reaches out to children in doctors' waiting rooms.
After five years, Rocky Mountain Youth is just getting started, de Rubertis said. The nonprofit hopes to add eye care, mental-health clinics and a mobile dental clinic.
It would cost up to $500,000 to buy the large van, equip it with dental equipment and operate it for a year, de Rubertis said.
Most Rocky Mountain Youth's funding comes from local foundations, corporations and private donors.
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Dr. Kim White, left, chats with Angela Young, 25, as she conducts a yearly physical on Young's 3-year-old daughter, Adrianna at the Rocky Mountain Youth Medical and Nursing Consultants. It serves 30,000 uninsured and underinsured Colorado kids annually with a budget of about $1.5 million. By Maria Avila / Rocky Mountain News
