Curtis Crocker, a patient of Lestonnac Free Clinic, talk about his problems getting health care in Orange County. Ninh Nguyen, client of VNCOC Asian Health, and Alondra Campos, client of Latino Health Access, are on either side of Curtis.
Felix Schwarz, Executive Director of the Health Care Council of Orange County summed up health care in Orange County at the Coalition of Orange County Community Clinics forum on August 22, 2009. The forum, Community Health Centers on the Frontlines: Orange County Health in a Growing Crisis, discussed the growing problems community clinics face having to serve more clients which severely reduced budgets.
The Coalition is asking for the public to support keeping the clinics funded. The Coalition is collecting names and stories of people hurt by the cutbacks in clinic funding as part of The List Project. Additionally, the Coalition is asking people to send postcards to Gov. Schwarzenegger with details about how clinic cuts will hurt them, their children, and their neighbors. The postcards are available thru the Coalition offices.
Orange County is the second most populous county in the state and one of the largest counties in the United States without a public hospital or a primary care public health system. The Coalition of Orange County Community Clinics is a group of 19 clinics which provide a primary care safety net for the over 600,000 uninsured residents of Orange County.
Clinic clients, clinic staff and advocates were on the panel. Three clients, Curtis Crock, helped by Letsonnac Free Clinic in Orange, Alondra Campos helped by Latino Health Access and Ninh Nguyen helped by VNCOC Asian Health Center, told how they were not able to get health care before finding the clinics.
- Curtis Crock, who has worked all his life for employers who sponsored health insurance, found himself out of work and uninsured. His wife was recovering from cancer and needed continuing treatments. Curtis has a cardiac condition which requires regular care. Curtis went to Lestonnac Free Clinic in Orange, which is able to offer specialty care. His wife was able to obtain care from Share Our Selves in Costa Mesa. Curtis felt frustrated by the system because he had always been employed, at a good job, with medical benefits until recently. "People find themselves without the resources to receive health care," is how Curtis summed it up. He added, "It's startling to see the number of people at the Inglewood clinic", referring to the recent clinic in Inglewood by Remote Area Medical (RAM).
- Alondra Campos, a client of Latino Health Access, is a young vibrant woman who is slowly going blind from complications of juvenile diabetes. If Alondra had been born into a family living in an Orange County gated community, losing her sight due to diabetes would never be an issue. Alondra has not been able to get reliable and consistent care for her diabetes because she does not have insurance. Her history of getting what care she could get has been heart breaking. At a time when she was able to pull together enough money for a doctor visit, that doctor gave her hormones and steroids instead of actually treating her diabetes. When a telemarketer called and promised her insurance that would cover her condition, she sent in the money and never received the promised level of coverage, only more statements for premiums. Finally, Alondra went to Latino Health Access, who is working with her on managing her diabetes and saving her sight. Alondra has been diagnosed with a detached retina and cataracts, something that is rarely seen in a young woman like her. Latino Health Access has her scheduled for eye surgeries. She describes her remaining vision as being only as far as her arms can reach. "Eight months without seeing my mother, eight months without seeing my family, eight months without seeing anything," is how Alondra describes her life now. She added, "Are we going to let some one else lose their vision because they don't qualify for insurance, because they're too high risk?"
- Ninh Nguyen, a client of VCNOC Asian Health Center, and a recent immigrant from VietNam, spoke of his frustrations in getting care. Ninh first lived in Nevada after he immigrated and said, "Health care in Nevada is very hard," in describing the language, access and affordability problems he faced. He then moved to Orange County to join the large Vietnamese community. Once in Orange County, Ninh still had trouble getting care because he did not know how to find the right doctors or find ways to pay for care. VCNOC Asian Health Center helped Ninh access MediCal and find doctors who can care for his needs.
Above: Coalition of Orange County Community Clinics panel - Paty Madueno, OCCCO chair; America Bracho, CEO Latino Health Access; Dr. Thuy Ahn, VNCOC Asian Health Center; Ellen Ahn, Executive Director, Korean Community Services; Janani Skrikantharajah, Program Coordinator; Prevention Institute; Ed Gerber, Executive Director, Lestonnac Free Clinic; Isabel Becerra, CEO, Coalition of Orange County Community Clinics; Felix Schwarz, Executive Director, Health Care Council; Juio Perez, Policy Director, Orange County Labor Federation. Clinic clients are on the far end of the panel in this photo.
The panel included representatives from several clinics, community organizations, and health advocacy groups.
- Isabel Becerra, CEO of the Coalition of Orange County Community Clinics addressed the recent funding problems and increase in the number of clients being served. Clinics are seeing an upswing in the number of clients coming thru the door and a new type of client - a middle class person who had a good job with health insurance until they were laid off. These clients are typically people who have always been able to provide well for their families and have not had to seek assistance of this type before.
- Ellen Ahn, Executive Director of Korean Community Services, spoke about issues the Korean community faces. Over 27% of the children are uninsured and 23% of the seniors are uninsured, which is among the highest rates in the county. One issue facing the Korean community is the number of small businesses, restaurants, shops, dry cleaners, which find it difficult if not impossible to afford health insurance coverage for employees. Other problems facing the community include language and cultural barriers, high stomach and lung cancer rates, and for recent immigrants, a gap in understanding how to access health care in the United States.
- America Bracho, Chief Executive Officer of Latino Health Access, reminded everyone that health is a human right. She remarked, "Numerous people in Orange County have conditions they don't know they have." She sees one challenge as educating people so they can recognize health problems and get in to see a doctor before the problem worsens. She added, "People with chronic conditions tend to delay treatment. It's how they react to the diagnosis."
- Ed Gerber, the Executive Director of Lestonnac Free Clinic, reminded everyone that he came to the clinic as a patient 14 years ago. "I could be sitting at the end of the panel myself," he said in reference to the clinic clients sitting at one end of the panel. He sees his job as to open doors, to find doctors, nurses and others who want to volunteer their time or make donations. Lestonnac Free Clinic is not allowed by their charter to pay for medical care, they must find medical professionals who are willing to donate their services. Lestonnac Free Clinic has been very successful in being able to offer specialty medical services such as urology and neurology thru the generosity of physicians donating their time. Specialty care at community clinics is rare.
- Dr. Thuy Anh, of VNCOC Vietnamese Health Center is a family doctor at the center who sees uninsured and underinsured patients. Currently, she estimates that 1 out of 3 of her patients are uninsured. Dr. Anh also spoke about the need for preventive care and patient education to keep patients healthy and better manage chronic conditions.
- Felix Schwarz, Executive Director of the Health Care Council, reminded those in the room of the history of problems and near disaster in Orange County's health care system. The Health Care Council was founded over 23 years ago to push back on the County Board of Supervisors when they wanted to cut back on health care spending. Since then the council has successfully passed Measure H, which reserved tobacco settlement money for health care, fought against the sale of UCI Medical Center to a private hospital company, and fought the closure of the nursing program at Cal State Fullerton. Felix summed up the situation, "In the richest county, in the richest state, in the richest country, we have stories like this. You should be angry, very angry."
- Janani Srikantharajah, from the Prevention Institute, highlighted the underlying principle that promoting health in communities needs to include ways of providing health lifestyles - access to open space, healthy foods, and adequate health care. Janani remarked, "Community prevention is the way to reduce poor health in this country,"
- Julio Perez of the Orange County Labor Federation reminded us that many of us have employer sponsored health care because of the battles labor unions have fought. Julio asked people who don't understand what a Public Option is to look at what has been done in San Francisco with the Healthy San Francisco program. He also asked people to make health care advocacy conversations a "daily thing, at the dinner table, at the barbecue this weekend, talk about why we need this done." He also asked everyone to push as hard as they can to get real health care reform passed, "If we don't pass something, are we going to wait another 8, 10, 12, 15 years, we must be bold. I don't want my kids addressing these issues."
- Paty Madueno, Orange County Congregation Community Organization (OCCCO) Chair, emphasized that health care is a a human right, a key part of human dignity. "It is so hard to think what is going on this this country. In the name of human dignity, we have a right to have health coverage," she said. She added that we must, "follow our God and move into action to do what is right for everyone. So many people are working, paying taxes, and don't have health care coverage." OCCCO is a group of Orange County congregations including Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, Unitarian churches and community groups which have joined together to advocate for social justice issues.
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