Staff Members, Patients Again Protest Conditions at County Health Center

In what is becoming a weekly event, patients, nurses and other staff members picketed Los Angeles County’s decrepit Canoga Park Health Center on Thursday in hopes of embarrassing health officials into fixing more of the clinic’s many problems, ranging from cockroach infestations to broken toilets.

The nurses said they were delighted that their first lunchtime demonstration last week had brought immediate improvements at the clinic. But they warned that much still needs to be done.

“It’s a start. It’s a great start,” said Maxine Falls, a public health nurse. But, she added, “if we don’t keep it up, I’m afraid they will let it fall by the wayside.”

Health workers have vowed to picket weekly until they are satisfied with the clinic’s working conditions. They complained that the roof leaks in the cramped facility, the plumbing and air conditioning are often broken, the staff is overworked and cockroaches have overrun the place.

Since the initial protest, the clinic has been fumigated, the janitorial staff has been increased and boxed medical records that had piled up in hallways have been shipped out. The roof will be replaced this summer.

Melinda Anderson, the Department of Health Services’ area administrator, said the protest did speed up approval of improvements at the aging clinic.

“As a result of the protest, there was more priority made for those requests that were in the system,” Anderson said.

The two dozen protesters, who waved signs and blew whistles in front of the clinic Thursday, were not entirely satisfied.

On the picket line, Lucille James, a blood technician, wore rubber gloves as she carried two jars each containing a cockroach. She had found the bugs that morning in a box containing prenatal testing supplies.

“These are the cockroaches we work with,” she said as her fellow protesters chanted: “No more roaches.”