Dr. Dan Calac: Community Clinics Provide Front Door Access to Healthcare

Dr. Daniel “Dan” Calac is the Chief Medical Officer at the Indian Health Council. As a boy, he grew up on the Pauma Indian Reservation, the community he serves today. In this episode of Stop & Talk, Dan recalls waiting in the car while his mother, a nurse, performed exams for residents of the reservation before returning to the Indian Health Clinic. With a dad who was a community health representative and an uncle who was one of the last medicine men in the area – Dan had ample opportunity to understand the power, the connection, and how community health can vastly improve regional wellness. Dr. Calac also discusses how increasing the number of Native American doctors and how partnerships across the region enable IHC to be better connected and, as a result, more effective in their work.