CUDAHY : Clinic Offers Free Immunizations

A crowd of parents and their children is exactly what John Juarez hopes to see this week at the offices of the Women, Infant and Children’s Supplemental Food Program.

The Community Health Foundation of East Los Angeles recently immunized 330 children during a two-day free clinic in Cudahy. The nonprofit group hopes to attract a similar turnout when it offers free immunizations Tuesday and Thursday at 7810 Otis Ave.

“Because we had such an overwhelming response last time we’re going back,” said Juarez, assistant director of the foundation. The group provides medical and social services on a sliding-cost scale in Bell, Bell Gardens, Cudahy, Maywood and East Los Angeles.

Juarez attributes the success of the program to understanding the priorities of a community that is often hesitant to seek preventive medical care.

“If immunization is provided in a proper manner--for example if it is provided in a place where (parents) are accustomed to such as the WIC offices rather than setting up a mobile unit in supermarkets where people may not shop anyway--it makes a big difference,” Juarez said.

The group advertised the clinic by passing out flyers to parents who came to the WIC offices to collect food vouchers. The foundation began offering services in Southeast cities because many residents are recent immigrants who may be wary of county facilities.

“We see a high percentage of new immigrants in these areas and there is some suspicion of being reported if they seek services,” Juarez said. “The county offers free immunization and always has, but . . . they fear that if they give their names it will go into a databank and be shared with other authorities.”

The immunization clinic was a first for the WIC offices in Cudahy, where medical services are limited, said Steve Baranov, director of the Harbor-UCLA Research and Education Institute, which manages several WIC sites. “It’s a national tragedy that roughly half the low-income children in this country are not immunized, and it’s been a particular problem among Latino children in Los Angeles,” he said.