By Rose Law Group Reporter
Nicolas Cevallos, a Junior at Brophy College Preparatory High School, created a website dedicated to helping uninsured individuals find affordable or free care in their area of residence. His idea was sparked by the stories his mom, a frontline health care worker, told him about patients, who could not get proper post-COVID19 care due to lack of insurance. In many cases, a language barrier made it even more challenging to find low-cost healthcare and navigate healthcare system.
Nicolas created the website, “Healthcare You Can Afford/Salud Que Puedes Pagar” after researching and collecting information about affordable medical, dental, and mental health clinics across Metropolitan Phoenix. The website, www.saludquepuedespagar.org, is a search instrument, both in English and Spanish. The website allows the users to search for medical, dental, and mental health clinics, using the city or ZIP code where they live. He has also included information about free COVID-19 testing and vaccines, as well as flu vaccines. He has included direct links to some clinics that give free care and that help Spanish-speaking people, regardless of immigration status.
Nicolas hopes to disseminate this information to raise awareness of this resource with the community and organizations whose users need affordable medical, dental, or mental health care. Nicolas has done presentations to community organizations and has reached out to families in Padres Latinos Unidos de Brophy, Loyola Academy, Puentes and Possibilities in St. Francis Xavier School, the non-profit Saving Amy, patient advocacy organizations like Foundation for Senior Living, and social workers at a local hospital serving low-income families. To date, multiple members of these communities have been served with free or low-cost medical care. Looking ahead, Nicolas hopes to expand the number of clinics in the database as well as the number of individuals served.
Nicolas can be contacted at ncevallos23@brophybroncos.org about making presentations at a community organization and adding clinics and medical, dental, and mental health care services to the website.
