Medical Grants Are Awarded

The HealthCare Foundation for Orange County has awarded $330,000 in grants for community-based medical, prenatal and dental services in partnership with three area hospitals.

The money, part of the new foundation’s “Partners for Health Projects,” will augment programs in Santa Ana and Anaheim neighborhoods that deliver health care to low-income families and migrant workers. The projects include money for a van based at the Delhi Center in Santa Ana and added hours on Saturdays and evenings at an Anaheim maternity program.

“The thrust of our giving in the Partners for Health program has been to fund efforts of local nonprofit hospitals to bring services where the people are,” said Susan G. Zepeda, the foundation’s executive director. “We recognize that for low-income families, transportation is a serious issue and a serious part of the access problem.”

This is the first full year of operation for the foundation, which has an endowment of $19 million and supports health programs in central Orange County. It was created last July from the sale of the nonprofit United Western Medical Centers to Tenet Healthcare Corp., the second biggest for-profit hospital chain in the nation. Eighty-two percent of its approximately $950,000 in annual grants must be made through existing institutions, according to an agreement with the state that governed the hospital’s sale.

The grants awarded this week include matching or in-kind contributions from Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach and St. Joseph Hospital and UCI Medical Center, both in Orange.

The programs are:

* A cooperative venture between UCI Medical Center and an existing maternity program to expand medical services for underserved pregnant women in the Anaheim area. The $80,000 grant will allow the program to operate on Saturdays and Wednesday evenings. It teams outreach workers with medical professionals to offer improved prenatal care. It also provides cross-cultural training for medical students.

* An expansion of operating hours at the Casa de Salud family clinic in south Santa Ana. Hoag will provide specialist medical services for the clinic, which was formed last year to replace the Free Health Plan clinic, which closed. The community-based program will receive a $96,000 grant. The clinic is run by the nurse practitioner program at Cal State Long Beach and provides low-cost care while training nurse-practitioner students. It is also supported by grants from Kaiser Permanente, the county Health Care Agency and CalOptima.

* St. Joseph Hospital will work with Delhi Center in Santa Ana to bring health screening and medical services to migrant worker and other low-income families by way of a health van. The hospital will provide lab, pharmacy, X-ray and other support. The $155,000 grant will cover vision, medical and dental care, as well as educational programs on health at the center.