EAST LOS ANGELES : Fund-Raiser to Help Health Care Students

Chicanos for Creative Medicine, a group of students majoring in biomedical and biological science at East Los Angeles College, will hold a scholarship fund-raiser today in Whittier.

The money will help students continue their studies and assist alumni in medical schools, said Bob Zuniga, chairman of the group’s scholarship program.

The group formed in 1968 to share information on getting into medical schools and the health professions. It has since become a statewide organization.

Seventy-five former East Los Angeles College students have received scholarships from the group and are training to become doctors, nurses, researchers and other professionals, Zuniga said. Another 30 are practicing professionals.

“But it’s a drop in the bucket,” Zuniga said. A recent report by UCLA professor David Hayes-Bautista on the health of Latinos says there is one doctor for every 9,500 Latinos in Los Angeles County.

The scholarship program began in 1982 when the Harvard Medical School started a summer enrichment program that admitted 12 East Los Angeles College students at a cost of $2,000 each. Harvard granted four scholarships, but the group was forced to find money elsewhere to send the remaining eight.

The event today will include entertainment, food and mariachis from 2 to 6 p.m. Admission is $75 per person. It will be held at the home of Dr. Richard and Rebecca Zapanta, 5830 Beverly Hills Drive, two blocks east of Painter Avenue and Beverly Boulevard, in Whittier.