BEAVERTON, Ore. - Local, low-cost health clinics are seeing a huge influx of patients in financial trouble but with budgets already stretched thin, they’ve been forced to turn many of them away.

Even during a health economy, The Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center’s Beaverton clinic is very busy.  Right now, it’s overflowing.  And families who were once able to pay at least a small part of their medical bills don’t have a penny to spare.

 “We're just kind of the canary in the coal mine," said Gil Munoz, Chief Executive Officer of The Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center.  With the health care industry, this is played out in communities all over the country.”

According to Munoz, half of the center's patients are uninsured and fall below the federal poverty level of $22,000 a year for a family of four.  But Munoz said they are now seeing more middle class families.

“It's a sign people are really struggling," he said.  "They're struggling between putting gas in the car, food on the table and paying the rent. So, the thing that gets put off is medical care.”

By then, their situation is often critical, said Munoz, and they end up in hospitals racking up tens of thousands of dollars in medical debt.  The clinics are also seeing more people who need psychological help for problems like depression and anxiety related to their stressed situations.

The Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center relies on small patient fees, donations and grants to survive.   But Munoz said there has been a 40 percent increase in the number of patients unable to pay even a fraction of their bill.

And the donations and grants are drying up quickly, which leaves clinics like the one in Beaverton desperately trying to keep their doors open.   Munoz thinks it’s going to get worse before it gets any better.

“I think we’re in for a kind of rough road here over the next six months or so,” he said.

Virginia Garcia's four primary-care clinics serve about 30,000 patients.  About 90,000 uninsured live in Washington and Yamhill counties. 

For more information about the Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center and how you can help, visit their Web site.