Dispute Over County Health Care Plan : Medical Workers Picket Juvenile Hall

County medical workers at the San Fernando Valley Juvenile Hall in Sylmar protested Wednesday that a county proposal to hire a less expensive, private medical firm to treat children in detention at five Valley facilities would reduce the quality of health care.

About 15 nurses, clerks and dentists, carrying signs reading “preserve quality health care,” picketed at noon in front of the Sylmar facility. The workers would not lose their jobs under the plan, but would be transferred to other county medical centers.

Their expertise would be hard to replace, they said.

“We are dedicated professionals who have been treating these children for years,” said Dr. George Peeples, an oral surgeon. “We consider ourselves specialists in caring for children in detention. We are extremely cost-effective.”

‘Feel Like Mothers’

Sherry Ramirez, a nurse who has worked at county juvenile detention facilities for 5 years, said she and other nurses “feel like mothers to these kids.”

“We like our jobs here, we know how to care for these kids,” she said.

The county Department of Health Services provides medical care for about 1,020 youths who are in the Sylmar facility, two camps in Tujunga and two in Saugus. Health Services charged the county Probation Department, which operates the facilities, $2.3 million for health care last year, probation officials said.

Looking for ways to cut health care costs about 10%, the Probation Department sought bidders to provide juvenile health care. Three private firms and county Health Services responded in November, said Charles R. Stuart, Probation Department head of contract services.

Evaluating Proposals

The four proposals are being evaluated by the Probation Department, which is expected to make a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors in mid-February, Stuart said.

The county has provided health services at juvenile detention halls since 1977, when the Board of Supervisors adopted a plan to improve medical care, county officials said. At that time the county was under a federal court order to eliminate crowding and upgrade medical treatment of youths in detention.

Stuart said that any private contractor would have to meet national standards for providing health care at detention facilities. He called the workers’ claims that services would suffer “kind of vague arguments.”

In evaluating the applications, the Probation Department will look at the “ability to provide the service in a cost-effective manner,” Stuart said. If the contract program is successful in the Valley, it could be initiated countywide, he said.

Dr. Charles Baker, medical director for Probation Health Services--who runs medical services at the facilities--was sympathetic to the protesters. The department does not believe it could cut the cost of services any more, he said.

“We have cut services 10% for the last 2 years and feel that we are at the minimum we can go with,” Baker said.