Hotline Cites Alternatives to Illegal Clinics

In an effort to steer people away from illegal medical clinics, Orange County’s Health Care Agency expanded the services of its toll-free hotline Wednesday to tell residents how to get the care they need safely and legally.

The agency’s effort is part of a multifaceted county effort to clamp down on unlicensed medical care and illegally imported prescription drugs.

“It’s unsafe to seek health care from an unlicensed back-room clinic, and it’s unsafe to take medicine that hasn’t been prescribed for you by a physician,” said Dan Gleason, the agency’s health promotion program manager.

The additional service will direct callers to “safe, licensed clinics and appropriate health care,” he said.

The deaths of two toddlers and a teenager in the past two years after they received illegally administered drugs prompted the agency, the recently renamed Orange County Safe Healthcare Coalition and the district attorney’s office to reach out to the mainly immigrant community that uses back-room clinics and warn them of the dangers.

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The key to eliminating the problem is community education, access to safe alternatives and enforcement of laws against illegal medical practices, said Dr. Mary Watson, a coalition member and executive director of the Free Health Plan clinics in Santa Ana.

The county’s hotline--(800) 564-8448--is staffed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. During off hours, a recording directs callers to other medical resources, such as Children’s Hospital of Orange County’s 24-hour pediatric hotline.

The toll-free help is the first of several projects scheduled to be launched in coming weeks. By mid-May, the health agency and the coalition plan to have social workers, nurses, clinic workers and others trained in referring people to alternative medical resources.

“The focus of this health education campaign is going to be this health referral line number,” Gleason said. But the campaign also will include the use of posters and fliers to “caution people about the use of medication and where to obtain safe medical care.”

The fliers also will list low-cost or free clinics, hours of operation and services offered, Watson said.

The agency is funding the $45,302 cost of the first three months for the hotline, training and publicity.

Watson said she also hopes to change community norms through promotional advertising. The coalition will be seeking corporate underwriting to pay for television and radio spots in the next six months.

The hotline and the education campaign are two of the goals in the coalition’s five-year plan, which county supervisors received Tuesday evening. Other goals include developing a medical resources directory, coordinating health care services, creating a Web site and assembling a task force for the uninsured and underinsured.

But Watson said offering alternatives is not enough.

“We need to ferret out the people who are making a profit on the lives of other people,” she said.

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Dist. Atty. Anthony J. Rackauckas told supervisors Tuesday night that he plans to establish a toll-free hotline in three languages so residents can anonymously report information about illegally obtained pharmaceuticals.

The hotlines, in English, Spanish and Vietnamese, should be ready by the end of next week, said Tori Richards, the district attorney’s office spokeswoman. The number is unavailable because the phone company is still installing the line, she said.

A deputy prosecutor and an investigator also will be assigned to focus on illegal clinics.

The project’s estimated $235,000 annual cost will come from the county’s consumer prosecution fund, which receives money from those convicted of consumer fraud.