South Bay : County Health Center Wants Patients Back

Administrators at the Long Beach Comprehensive Health Center say the county’s health care crisis has cost the facility half its patients.

Workers at the center began telling patients in August that the center would be shut down Sept. 29 as a result of the county’s financial straits.

Although county health officials withdrew the closure notice last month, the average number of patients visiting the clinic on the 100 block of Chestnut Avenue has fallen to about 120 a day--half the number stopping in before the crisis, administrators said. So officials of the city’s only county-run health care center are working to bring back former patients who may not know that the clinic remains open.

The center, one of six in the county, offers outpatient services ranging from pediatric care to laboratory tests and dental work.

City and county officials called a news conference Friday to notify former patients that the facility is open despite recent budget cuts that forced the layoff of 22 of the center’s 150 employees. Workers also have tried to contact former patients by telephone and mail.

“People may not be getting their health needs taken care of,” said Jim Moreno, a clinic administrator. He said confusion over the medical cuts also has caused other county health facilities to lose customers.

Moreno said he fears that the clinic could face further cuts if it cannot draw more patients.

“We need people coming in the doors to keep open,” he said.