San Fernando High School : Teen Clinic Opens Doors but Few Foes Show Up

The controversial student health clinic at San Fernando High School threw its doors open to supporters and critics Friday, welcoming them with cheese, crackers and punch.

About 100 people attended, but most anti-clinic leaders shunned the open house, despite printed invitations sent to 70 area churches, including some backers of protests and marches.

“I know exactly what the thing is,” said Father Barney Gatlin, pastor of Guardian Angel Catholic Church in Pacoima. “There would be no interest in going. We would only go to stage a demonstration.”

Church Leads Opposition

Guardian Angel has been the church most active in organizing opposition to the clinic, which opened quietly Nov. 11 with a $200,000 grant from a private foundation. Opponents do not want the clinic to counsel students on birth control or dispense contraceptives, even though parental consent is required.

Lupe Ramos, the mother of a San Fernando High School student and a leading critic, showed up at the open house and got into a heated discussion with Louis Garcia, executive director of the Northeast Valley Health Corp., which operates the facility for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

“You can’t mend broken legs; you don’t have X-ray equipment. We had a nurse who gave first aid,” Ramos said of the days before the clinic opened. “What you do is duplication of services.”

Garcia countered that many people in the area cannot afford medical care and that the services provided by the clinic are vital.

Ramos asked Garcia if his conscience as a Catholic was clear, since the clinic provides teen-agers with contraceptives, a practice contradictory to church teachings.

“As long as I can avoid a need for abortions, my conscience is clear,” Garcia said. “From the practical perspective, the families who want to use the services have a right to.”

Clinic director Rena Shpegel said the clinic has recorded 783 visits from among the 325 San Fernando High students whose parents returned signed consent forms. The school has 2,800 students.

Shpegel said the largest part of the clinic visits have been for general medical services--physicals, immunizations, acne treatments and minor emergencies. She said about 4% of the visits included dispersing contraceptives or counseling.

“We invited the opposition because we felt it was time they actually saw the clinic,” Shpegel said of the open house. “We felt they needed more information.”

Shpegel sent out about 600 invitations. Those invited included church officials, teachers and figures in business, health and youth work.

Those who attended the low-key, two-hour event toured the three examination rooms, three offices and a waiting room and conversed with clinic staff members.

“I’m hoping there are ways we can work with churches in the area,” Shpegel said. “We all want the same thing, what’s best for the kids.”

“I think the parents are won over, but the most vocal ones are those in the minority,” said Suzanne Llamas, a member of the clinic’s advisory board. “Hopefully, one day, all of our schools will have clinics at them.”

But Ramos vowed that protests against the clinic will continue. The latest show of force from the opposition was a Feb. 22 march to the school by 1,500 parents, accompanied by a procession of 200 cars. The protesters burned parental consent forms on the school’s front lawn.