Each of the several people seated in the Renton Salvation Army Food Bank and Service Center last Saturday morning has a different ailment. The 14-year-old girl has a sprained ankle and her mother herniated back discs. The diabetic man needs insulin and the 13-year-old boy a physical and immunizations.

The medical concerns of these people vary, but all are at the Salvation Army Food Bank Saturday because they don’t have medical insurance or enough money to pay for medical care. They are at the food bank because every Saturday, the downtown Renton building turns into Renton RotaCare, a free health clinic.

Lisa Hardie, the mother with the herniated back discs, was expecting a much longer wait Saturday.

“They’ve already got two people in, and there’s only one ahead of us,” Hardie says at 9:30 a.m., after half an

hour of waiting. “We really expected a long line. We expected it to be out the door. We expected it to be an hour or two before we even got our papers signed.”

Hardie came to RotaCare Saturday with her step-daughter — and sprained-ankle victim — Kimberly Harris and Kimberly’s father Bill Harris. The family just moved to Benson Hill from Las Vegas and doesn’t have health insurance yet. Hardie is looking for a job selling time shares, like she did in Las Vegas. Dimmitt Middle School recommended RotaCare to Kimberly.

Kimberly and Hardie are just two of the roughly 2,300 who have received treatment from Renton RotaCare since it opened in fall 2003. The clinic, which started at Renton Technical College, began as a partnership between Valley Medical Center, Renton Rotary and Renton Technical College.

Like Kimberly and Hardie, most patients hear about the free drop-in health clinic through word of mouth. Miguel Zavala, Saturday’s diabetic, heard about Renton RotaCare from a friend. It was his first visit. Saturday was also the first visit for Christina Rojas and her son Mauricio, who came to Renton RotaCare for a physical and immunizations at the recommendation of his school, Meeker Middle School. He needed the medical care to try out for track. Mauricio doesn’t have insurance yet because he just moved back to the U.S. after four years in Mexico, where he was living with his dad.

Saturday’s patients represent a typical sampling of RotaCare patients. Some have injuries, others need medicine or routine exams.

“We see colds and flus, all that kind of thing,” says Bob McBeth, Renton RotaCare executive director. “But every now and then we catch someone who’s really got a serious problem.”

Someone like the woman who came to the clinic with stomach pain. Renton RotaCare doctors sent her to Valley Medical Center, where a free blood test showed she was bleeding internally from colon cancer. She was operated on the next day.

“If she had not come to the clinic, she would have died — no question,” McBeth says. “A story like that makes you feel, ‘Oh, wow.’ We’ve had two or three of those.”

McBeth started Renton RotaCare with Valley Medical Center family doctor Dr. Bob Thompson in 2003. Thompson was inspired by a RotaCare clinic in Bellevue, which opened in 1996.

Renton RotaCare is one of 30 free health clinics in Washington. But the Renton clinic is one of only three RotaCare clinics in the state. Bellevue was first, and a Lake City clinic third. Kent RotaCare is expected to open this year, McBeth says. The first RotaCare opened in Santa Clara in 1989.

Renton RotaCare is run by volunteers, about 80 from Rotary and 15 doctors and nurses from Valley Medical Center. The clinic is staffed each Saturday by about seven volunteers, including two doctors, two nurses, two hospital records keepers and a clinic administrator. The food bank is converted each Saturday into two exam rooms, two rooms where a nurse determines the problem and a reception room. The exam rooms have standard exam tables and other medical equipment.

Renton RotaCare moved from Renton Technical College to the Salvation Army Food Bank just after it opened, in June 2005. Visibility and the number of patients has since increased.

“The poor, homeless, uninsured population we’re trying to serve comes through right here at the food bank,” McBeth says.

The clinic sees about 15 patients a week, and is expecting at least 650 patients this year.

Renton RotaCare patients are asked only two screening questions. Do they have health insurance, and can they afford medical treatment?

Thompson, the Renton RotaCare medical director, says the clinic focuses on “acute care — people who need to see the doctor right away and find their road to recovery.”

“We’re the starting point for many people,” Thompson says.

Renton RotaCare does not serve people with medical emergencies or chronic conditions. The clinic is designed to diagnose and treat illnesses and minor injuries. Referrals for bloodwork, X-rays and other services are often made to Valley Medical Center, which can sometimes cover these things through its charity program. RotaCare volunteers can also help people qualify for medication and treatment through the state’s Department of Social and Health Services.

Renton RotaCare gets $20,000 a year from Renton Rotary. That money covers prescriptions. McBeth says the clinic tries to limit prescription costs to $50 per patient per day. That means the patient sometimes has to pay for some medication, he says. But not last October through February, when a $6,500 grant from King County allowed Rotacare to cover all patient prescriptions.

Most RotaCare patients come from Renton. Others from neighboring cities, such as Kent, Auburn, Covington, Federal Way, Seatac and White Center. Patients don’t have insurance for a variety of reasons. Some are unemployed, others are students, or young adults just getting off their parents’ insurance, immigrants, or children just returning to the United States, like Mauricio. Renton RotaCare sees a couple homeless people each month.

“There’s a pretty wide range of people we see,” says Jim Sullivan, a Renton Rotary volunteer who helps set up and take down Renton RotaCare just about every Saturday.

Sullivan comes across many grateful patients.

“One guy came out with a big smile on his face, saying, ‘I didn’t have a heart attack! Thank you all!’” he recalls.

Many patients leave relieved that their chest pain is only heart burn, or that the lump on their leg isn’t serious.

“There’s a lot of those,” Thompson says. “Those are the good ones, the easy ones.”

But all Renton RotaCare cases are good ones, Thompson says, because the patients are getting medical help they wouldn’t otherwise receive.

“I think this is one of the best projects,” Sullivan says. “Rotary has a lot of good projects, but this one is the best.”

Emily Garland can be reached at emily.garland@reporternewspapers.com or (425) 255-3484, x. 5052.