South County : Low-Cost Clinic Reopens After Being Expanded

The South County Community Clinic in San Juan Capistrano, which serves low-income families, has reopened after having been closed three weeks for expansion.

The clinic recently added a third examination room and a conference room and renovated several offices to enable the staff to see about 500 families a month, instead of the 300 they had been seeing previously, officials said.

The clinic is a nonprofit agency that has had to struggle to find funds, said Richard P. Ruiz, director of fiscal and developmental affairs for the clinic.

Ruiz said the clinic suffered a blow earlier this summer when Gov. George Deukmejian vetoed funds in the 1987-88 budget that meant a loss of $40,000 for the clinic. As a result, the clinic has had to seek more individual and corporate support and has hired a research specialist to write grant proposals, he said.

The clinic’s staff is mostly made up of volunteers. Doctors, psychologists, nurses, pharmacists and administrative support workers donate some 10,000 hours of work a year, clinic officials said.