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​Giving Teens the Tools to Thrive

Teen Health Van Impact Report
​Summer 2024

Tahbazof family, your generosity builds bridges, ensuring young people receive the exceptional care they deserve.

Relying entirely on philanthropic support like yours, the Teen Health Van provides youth with direct access to free comprehensive health care, hosting 1,460 patient visits across 15 partner sites in 2023.

The past year marked a return to normal operations for the mobile clinic following the prolonged need to focus on providing COVID-19 testing and vaccinations. But this significant moment was met with an increased demand for mental health and reproductive health services for a growing number of youth, including many who are new immigrants with complex health needs. Your unwavering commitment helped us to once again respond to the urgent and changing needs of our patients.

Teen Health Van Medical Director Arash Anoshiravani, MD, MPH, and visiting staff talk to 21-year-old patient Jason Garcia while the mobile clinic visits San Jose Conservation Corps. Photo: Bay Area News Group


​Your support continues to provide a reliable and welcoming place for adolescents and young adults who are uninsured or underinsured to go for presciption medicine, vaccines, physicals, mental health support, and counseling around reproductive and sexual health. The clinic and its multidisciplinary staff bridge geographic, social, and financial barriers to provide youth ages 12 to 25 with the primary care they desperately need.

The team meets young people where they are, traveling twice a week to high schools, youth centers, community colleges, and food banks between San Francisco and San Jose. Outsized demand is now creating waiting lists.

The medical staff tailors its services to best address patient needs at each location. By using a strengths-based approach to personalized care, they build trust and rapport with patients. A remarkable 70 percent of young people served return for continued care. This is especially impressive knowing that prior to visiting the clinic, the majority of patients receive only sporadic health care.

Your compassionate giving continues to create real change in the lives of the youth we serve—change that leads to happier, healthier futures.

The following updates offer a glimpse into the tremendous impact your investment has had on young people in our community over the past year.

A personal message from Arash Anoshiravani, MD, MPH, medical director of the Teen Health Van:


Thank you for all the way you support the Van and the patients we serve!

On Teen Time: Convenient, Trusted Care

As she had done many times before, 15-year-old Nicole grabbed a hall pass, went to the front of East Palo Alto Academy, stepped inside the big blue RV in the parking lot, and received a free medical checkup.

For Nicole and countless others, the Teen Health Van is a symbol of personal empowerment. The sophomore said the mobile clinic allows her to seek care when she needs it, without having to worry about transportation or coming up with the money to pay for it. For appointments at a doctor’s office, she is concerned about sharing sensitive personal information.

Nicole is examined by Dr. Anoshiravani inside the Teen Health Van. Photo: Bay Area News Group
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​“I feel like it’s easier to come here because they don’t release your personal information to your parents and why you’re getting the help,” she said, noting that she sees the same Teen Van staff each visit and is comfortable with them. “When I found out Stanford Medicine provided this, I started going more and more.”

Nicole and other patients were featured in the 2023 Wish Book, an annual holiday fund drive by The Mercury News. As a result of the news coverage, the public generously contributed $30,000 to the Teen Van.

Read more

“I’ve seen it be a profound support system for our students, so we are more than grateful that the Teen Health Van is here.”

Natali Zepeda

Dean of Student Success at San Jose Conservation Corps and site coordinator for the Teen Health Van

Team Spotlight

Nearly one year on the job and the newest members of the medical team are making a meaningful impact on patient care, says Dr. Anoshiravani. He is hoping to add a new position to partner with them to connect patients to local and state health resources, including Medi-Cal, freeing up more time for clinical work.

Kimberly Chavez, ASW

An associate clinical social worker, Kimberly’s passion for community-based care is rooted in personal experience. A child of immigrants, she says her lower socioeconomic background makes her feel connected to young people with similar life journeys. On non-clinic days, Kimberly travels to partner sites to provide one-on-one counseling for patients struggling with anxiety, depression, and trauma. As a Spanish speaker, she is able to serve many youth in their preferred language. Prior to working for Stanford Medicine, she was a school-based mental health clinician in Santa Clara County.

Christina Jung, RD, CDCES

A registered dietitian, Christina enjoys working with teens because they’re in the process of figuring out what they value about their health. She relishes the chance to tell them there is “no magic answer” to eating healthy and how she can help them filter what they see online about fad diets to make good choices. She also often talks with patients about weight management, sports nutrition, food insecurity, and disordered eating. While it can be a significant wait to see a dietitian through a primary care provider, Teen Health Van patients can usually request an appointment with Christina the same day.

Making the Most of Patient Visits

An improved screening process is better directing in-clinic and follow-up care
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A new digital screening process, now in its second year, is helping medical staff identify areas of concern more quickly, track individual patient progress and, with more than 2,000 responses collected, gain a deeper understanding of the overall patient population.
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  • Offered in English, Spanish, and Portugese, the screening is brief and user friendly; patients are asked to complete it every six months.
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  • When an area of concern is identified, staff address it in person and also offer a brief follow-up questionnaire at the close of the visit, with a 90 percent response rate.
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  • The top reported challenges facing our patients: depression and anxiety, adverse childhood experiences, and food and housing insecurity.
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  • Our social worker and dietician proactively connect patients to community health resources and provide continued care for patients and their families outside of clinic visits, both in person and online.
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  • The number of new immigrants visiting the clinic is growing, and each can require five to eight vaccines to enroll in school. Like our clinic, county health services are not set up to meet the growing demand and related expenses. In 2023, some 80 immigrant youth requested multiple vaccines.
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A secure scheduling website is expected to make patient scheduling easier and more convenient in the upcoming school year.

They helped me talk about things I didn’t think I could ever bring up. They really listened to me and helped me.
​—Ninth-grade patient, Los Altos High School

Celebrating the Westly Foundation and the Association of Auxiliaries for Children!

Since 2022, the Westly Foundation has partnered with the Association of Auxiliaries for Children to leverage the foundation’s annual support of the Teen Health Van as a matching gift incentive. Together, the pair has raised an incredible $263,447 for the mobile clinic through Summer Scamper, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford’s largest annual community event.
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​Thank you, Association of Auxiliaries and the Westly Foundation, for championing youth and the Teen Health Van!

Staff from the Lucile Packard Foundation celebrate support of the Teen Health Van while the mobile clinic is parked at Summer Scamper’s family festival.

Looking Ahead

Together, we will meet the expanding needs of the young people in our community.

We are committed to growing our resources so we can meet the outsized demand for the vital care the Teen Health Van team provides. Through philanthropic partnership, we will increase the number of days the Teen Health Van is available to youth and add an additional staff position to connect patients with local and state health resources, freeing up our social worker and dietician to spend more time on direct patient care.

With sustainability in mind, plans are also on the horizon for the Teen Health Van to go electric in service of our community.

Essential grab-and-go items, such as socks, hygiene kits, blankets, and healthy snacks are available to youth at our partner sites whether they visit the mobile clinic or not.

Thank you! Your support has a powerful impact on our community. Together we are building a healthier future for all.

For more information, contact:
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​Michael Tomura
​Associate Director, Major Gifts
​(650) 461-9897; Michael.Tomura@LPFCH.org
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