Service Cuts to Begin at 2 County Health Clinics

The shuttering of 15 county health centers is scheduled to begin Friday, a little more than a week after the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved the closures.

Beginning Friday, walk-in services will no longer be available at two clinics, the North Hollywood Health Center and the Tujunga Health Center. Those are the first in a rolling schedule of service reductions that, by Oct. 1, are to close clinics from Pacoima to Norwalk.

In the interim, there is much to do at the 11 clinics and four school-based health centers slated for closing--from informing patients of the shutdowns and transferring records to coordinating patients’ future medical care and moving the furniture.

County officials have said that patients will be referred to other facilities, and that county nurses and doctors will be transferred to other sites.

Nevertheless, the closings could prove a logistical nightmare.

Last year, the clinics that are closing logged 238,000 visits, said John Wallace, a spokesman for the county Department of Health Services. He said 17,359 patients will have to seek medical services elsewhere.

“It’s just going to be difficult,” said Julie Frederick-Mairs, an administrator for two health centers slated for closing, in Pico Rivera and Bell Gardens.

Frederick-Mairs said there is a “very detailed procedure” for the closings that is intended to minimize inconvenience for affected patients, but she said that some problems are inevitable.

“There’s always someone out there who won’t get the message, some poor guy who will show up three weeks [after the closings] and wonder what happened,” she said.

Ernest Espinoza is the acting administrator of the Coastal Cluster Health Center, which includes the Norwalk Health Center, which is closing.

“It’s a pretty sad move for the staff and the patients because a lot of relationships have been built between them,” Espinoza said. “It’s unfortunate, because community-based primary care has proved to be the right thing in so many cases.”

The board voted on Tuesday to close the clinics, which provide primary care, to address a looming budget deficit. The county will continue to operate seven primary-care clinics, though supervisors have warned that more could close in October if new funds are not made available.

Patients will be directed to the remaining clinics, to public health centers that are equipped to deal only with communicable diseases, or to hospital emergency rooms, according to county officials.

“This is a money issue,” Frederick-Mairs said. “You don’t have to want to do it, you don’t even have to like to do it. You just have to do it, because it’s your responsibility.”

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Clinic Closings

These clinics will stop providing walk-in services on Friday, and will stop accepting scheduled appointments on Sept. 30.

*--* FACILITY LOCATION North Hollywood Health Center 5300 Tujunga Ave., North Hollywood Tujunga Health Center 7747 Foothill Blvd., Tujunga

*--*

These clinics will stop accepting scheduled appointments on Sept. 6, and will stop providing walk-in services on Sept. 13.

*--* FACILITY LOCATION Alhambra Health Center 612 West Shorb St., Alhambra Azusa Health Center 150 North Azusa Ave., Azusa Bell Gardens Health Center 6912 Ajax Ave., Bell Gardens Florence-Firestone Health Center 8019 Compton Ave., L.A Imperial Heights Health Center 10616 S. Western Ave., L.A Lawndale Health Center 14616 S. Grevillea, Lawndale Norwalk Health Center 12360 E. Firestone Blvd., Norwalk Pico Rivera Health Center 6336 S. Passons Blvd., Pico Rivera San Antonio Health Center 6538 Miles Ave., Huntington Park

*--*

These school-based clinics will stop accepting scheduled appointments on Sept. 6, and will stop providing walk-in services on Sept. 13.

*--* FACILITY LOCATION Gardena High School-Based Clinic 1301 W. 182nd St., Gardena Kennedy/Monroe School-Based Clinic 11254 Gothic Ave., Granada Hills Pacoima School-Based Clinic 9919 Laurel Canyon Blvd., Pacoima Vaughn School-Based Clinic 13330 Vaughn St., San Fernando

*--*