A five-minute drive from the tech campuses, on West Alma Avenue in a San Jose neighborhood called Washington-Guadalupe, Dr. Angela Bymaster sees her patients in extra long concierge appointments.
The clinic is called Healing Grove Health Center. She and her husband, Brett, co-founded it in 2020 along with a community organizer named Maria Marcelo, Honduran pastors Jairo and Lourdes Sarmiento, and a talented physician entrepreneur named Dr. Cheryl Ho, in the poorest census block in Silicon Valley. Angela and Brett had already been living there since 2006, with three children they had adopted from South Sudan. They were not commuters, but locals.
Healing Grove works the way a concierge clinic works. A paying member gets direct access to a physician, same-day appointments, up to hour-long visits, at $200 a month or $2,400 a year. What Healing Grove does with the money is where it splits from the concierge model. Every paying membership funds care for two low-income neighbors in the same building. Recent political and economic changes are resulting in an increased number of uninsured people in the area; Healing Grove is well equipped to serve these patients, as it does not rely on insurance-based payments.
The clinic's mission statement is to "share the love of Jesus through Health Care, Soul Care and Culture Care in order to bring the ‘Healing of the Nations’ to our community."
A women's group called Madre-A-Madre, co-founded around 2004 by Maria Marcelo and Washington Elementary principal Maria Evans, has met weekly in Spanish, partnering with Healing Grove since the clinic opened. Maria Marcelo immigrated to the Washington-Guadalupe neighborhood from Oaxaca, Mexico, in the late 90s. She lived, worked, and organized the community through Madre-a-Madre. She sadly passed away while leading a prayer walk during the Virgin of Juquila Novena, on December 7, 2022. Her daughter Maria Hernandez now runs Madre-A-Madre. These strong Latina mothers advocate for neighborhood improvements and plan and implement annual community events, including Dia de los Niños, a women’s conference for International Women’s Day, a large community party for the International Day of Peace called Dia de Unidad, and a Christmastime Posada.
Healing Grove Sports is headed by Coach Noe Guzman, who also lives in the Washington-Guadalupe community. He runs soccer practices for low income kids from the neighborhood all year with daily summer camps. Approximately 85 extremely low income immigrant children are coming to practice regularly, improving their soccer skills, getting stronger and in better shape, and growing in discipline under his leadership; none of these children could afford recreational or club soccer programs.
A group of case managers supports patients suffering with poor mental health, homelessness, drug addiction, or recent incarceration through the Cal-AIM Enhanced Care Management Program.
Through all of these programs, and because of concierge members who choose to put their healthcare dollars toward a positive social purpose, thousands of low income immigrants are supported in their pursuit of a better life.