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HOME > ABOUT > PRESS > NORTH COAST HEALTH CLINICS GET $1 MIL STIMULUS
Article published - May 28, 2009
Credit: PRESS DEMOCRAT
North Coast health clinics get $1 million stimulus
Two North Coast health clinics have been awarded a total of $1 million in federal stimulus funds to expand services, though much of the money likely will pay for recent growth and cover losses from looming state budget cuts.
Southwest Community Health Center in Santa Rosa will receive $600,000 and the Mendocino Community Health Clinic in Ukiah will receive $412,000. The funds are part of $81.7 million released Thursday by the Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for expansion of medical services.
“The economic downturn is hurting all of us and when workers lose their jobs, they often lose their health insurance, too,” Sebelius said in a statement.
Community health clinics are playing an increasingly important role in providing health care to those who either do not have health insurance or cannot afford the high cost of health care, she said.
For Southwest Community Health Center, the federal money comes at time of decreasing state support.
“Mostly I’m relieved, because the state outlook is so bad,” said Naomi Fuchs, Southwest Community Health Center’s CEO.
The money will help cover the cost of growth at the Chanate Family Practice Center, which the health center took over from Sutter Health a year and a half ago. Patient visits to the Chanate clinic have increased from 27,000 a year to 45,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, she said.
The grant will be paid out every year as long as the clinic maintains its designation as a federally qualified health center, Fuchs said.
The funds will also help cover proposed state budget cuts, including a possible loss of $100,000 to the clinic for providing health care to uninsured patients, $250,000 from the elimination of the state’s Healthy Families medical insurance for children and an undetermined amount from a possible rollback in Medi-Cal eligibility requirements.
Nationwide, the Recovery Act will provide $2 billion for grants to health centers over a 2-year period, with $500 million going toward new health centers and increasing services at existing sites. The remainder, $1.5 billion, will be used to support health center construction, renovation and equipment.
Previously, Southwest Community Health Center was awarded $344,767 in federal stimulus funds that it will use to expand its services to children. That grant, unlike the $600,000 grant, ends after two years.
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