ON THE ROAD TO HEALTH CARE-A-VAN DECADE OLD.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

PALMDALE - For more than 10 years, a converted motor home has traveled the Antelope Valley, providing checkups, immunizations, cancer screening and other medical care to the poor and uninsured.

The Care-A-Van mobile clinic staff saw more than 3,200 patients last year, many in outlying communities like Lake Los Angeles where the closest doctor's office is miles away, but also at places like Antelope Valley College, where many students have no health insurance.

``It is undeniable that many health care services in the Antelope Valley are scarce, especially in the rural areas,'' said Deborah Rice, a former Antelope Valley Hospital board member who is now a commissioner of the state Healthcare Workforce Policy.

``We have unique barriers,'' she added. ``Commuters can spend two or three hours a day on the road. If you leave at 6 o'clock in the morning and you don't arrive home until 7 p.m., where do you go if your child is ill?''

The Care-A-Van's 10th anniversary was marked by a dinner Wednesday night at the Larry Chimbole Cultural Center attended by more than 150 medical professionals, civic leaders and other supporters.

Two physicians, Dr. Andrew Deutsch of Antelope Valley Outpatient Imaging and Dr. Canagaretnam Chandradas of High Desert Health Services, were honored during the dinner with the Rae Yoshida Caring Spirit Award.

Deutsch was honored for his and his colleagues' free radiology services for clinic patients, totaling more than $35,000 over the last four years.

Chandradas volunteers to treat patients once a month when the van visits Rosamond. He began volunteering on his days off four years ago.

The award was named for a former Antelope Valley College vice president who died in 1994. In 1993, as chairman of the local United Way planning committee, Yoshida arranged a meeting between United Way board members and school nurses frustrated that so many youngsters did not have the immunizations and medical examinations required to enroll in school.

The United Way paid for a used motor home, which was modified by High Desert Hospital workers into a mobile clinic. Staffed by the Visiting Nurse Association of Los Angeles, the Care-A-Van began operating in June 1995.

The van is now operated by Visiting Nurse Community Services as a program of the Partners in Care Foundation.

Financing includes both state aid, grants and individual donations. Organizations that have provided money or services include the United Way, the Boeing Employee Community Fund, Blue Shield, Antelope Valley Hospital, Kaiser Permanente, Lancaster community hospital and High Desert Medical Group.

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(1 -- 3 -- color) The Care-A-Van mobile clinic, above, is shown at Antelope Valley College on Thursday. At top, clinical director Anita Horner checks AVC student Valerie Laury while below, registered nurse Mary Svoboda gives AVC student Rossana Pedroso a TB test.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer