Feel Free to download our annual report.

Click on the icon above to open Annual Report in Adobe Reader

Click on the icon above to download Annual Report to your computer. Must unzip the file to
view report.

 

Text Copy of Annual Report

Health care from head to toe.
FHCCGLA Annual Report

“I think often people assume that the uninsured are people that are sort of on
the fringes of society, or can’t get it together for whatever reason. The truth is most of them are just working class families who for a variety of reasons don’t have insurance. Their employers don’t provide it, or they can’t afford to buy it...”
Dr. Felix Nunez, Chief Medical Officer at FHCCGLA

A Conversation with Our Leadership
John Kotick, CEO & President of Family Health Care Centers of Greater Los Angeles,
and Board President Jeff Siccama, talk about what FHCCGLA means to the community – and what the community means to Family Health Care Centers.

What do you think is the most important thing FHCCGLA does?
JS: Times are tough, and you’ve got families who can only afford to insure a few people, and they’re picking and choosing who gets medical care. I think the most important thing we aim to do, and I think we’ve accomplished it, is to provide health care for the entire family.

What do you think life would be like for members of the community without Family Health Care Centers?
JK: I think it would be tougher. I’m absolutely certain that people would have to rely more on emergency rooms, and they’d have to go significantly farther to access medical treatment. So it would be tougher on kids and families in terms of finding the health care they need.
JS: It would be difficult for them to get the kind of services they receive here at the clinics. We try to provide preventive care, to make sure that anything serious gets caught early. In a different medical situation they may get lost in the crowd.

What do you hear most often from patients at the clinics?
JK: Overall, the message we tend to hear from patients is one of appreciation, and that they feel they’re treated with respect and dignity by their providers here at our clinics.

What does ‘community health’ mean to you?
JK: To me, it has two meanings. One, it means the delivery of health
care at a community level through clinics or health care organizations. At another level, it means a healthy community, a place in which people have access to health care, jobs, education and public programs.
JS: I think ‘community health’ means a healthy environment. There have been reports that in the next ten years 60-70% of Americans are going to be obese. That’s not a healthy community. So I think where we start to change that is locally, providing education and medical care.

Do you have any thoughts about the opportunity that health care reform presents for clinics?
JK: It’s a big opportunity with big challenges, a new frontier for community health centers. There’s a significant possibility that many of our patients who are currently uninsured will qualify for some type of insurance or coverage come 2014. So there will be more competition for our patients, and patients will have more choices. But we feel that the quality of their relationships with our clinicians will keep our patients coming back to us for care, and we feel very good about that.

“I’m very pleased with the care I receive for my children and myself
at FHCCGLA, and with just the overall quality of the clinic and how friendly
everybody is and how diligent they are in their work.”
Jacqueline Derimow, FHCCGLA Board Secretary and Patient

Our Los Angeles Roots
Family Health Care Centers of Greater Los Angeles (FHCCGLA) has been making an impact on Southern California communities since 1925, when the organization opened its doors as The Mother’s Clinic. The Clinic’s founder, Dr. Henry Brainerd, was a champion of women’s health and reproductive rights. In fact, the history of what is now FHCCGLA is interwoven with the history of the American family planning movement. 

Dr. Brainerd and The Mother’s Clinic founding physicians hoped
to foster a community where “every child is a wanted child,” and to become a trusted resource to women in Los Angeles for services ranging from birth control to prenatal, obstetric and pediatric care. The Mother’s Clinic was open to all in need of services, and no applicant was ever refused treatment because she could not afford to pay.  It was a safe haven where women could go to receive compassionate, supportive medical attention.

The 20th Century
After 30 thriving years, The Mother’s Clinic became the first Planned Parenthood Center of Greater Los Angeles.  With Dr. Edward Tyler as director, the Center continued to be at the forefront of women’s health advocacy, contributing research to the development of both hormonal contraceptives and infertility treatment techniques.

As the general population recognized that women’s rights included control over their health and reproductive choices, the practice of family planning became increasingly accepted.  The Center grew, and in 1964 became the Family Planning Centers of Greater Los Angeles.

FHCCGLA Today
These days, FHCCGLA operates two clinics, the full-time Bell Gardens Family Medical Center and the satellite Hawaiian Gardens Health Center.
FHCCGLA provides head to toe health care for men, women, teens, children and infants living in Bell Gardens and throughout the region. Our clinics operate as non-profits and our goal is to provide high quality, complete medical care to as many patients as possible every day.

Our Community
FHCCGLA’s main clinic is located in the City of Bell Gardens. We serve a population that experiences a great deal of need. Many Bell Gardens residents are low-income or working at jobs that do not provide health care benefits. Unable to afford private health insurance coverage, a large number of people in the community go without medical care. Health issues confronting our patients include teen pregnancy, high rates of chronic conditions such as diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, lack of access to nutritious food options and widespread poverty.

How We Help
FHCCGLA staff is bilingual, which allows for easy communication with a patient population that is 94% Hispanic. Our care providers are sensitive to and aware of the community’s specific cultural knowledge, practices and beliefs. That awareness helps clinicians address the health and social issues that are most important to our patients.

Our Bell Gardens Medical Center is situated next door to Mothers Nutritional Center, a Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program grocery store that provides essential foods to low-income mothers and their young children.  This closeness allows families to have a single destination for both their medical and nutritional needs.

Patient Voices Are Heard
FHCCGLA is motivated to meet our patients’ needs. As a participant in the Federally Qualified Health Center Program, 51% of our Board of Directors is composed of patients, enabling them to be directly involved in decision-making for the Centers.

Healthy Women, Healthy Families
When Dr. Brainerd and his colleagues started their work with the Los Angeles community, information about how to plan or prevent pregnancy existed mainly in the shadows and was generally not available to women in a clinical setting. Our founding physician’s conviction that knowledge and reproductive options were essential rights for women led to the bold venture that was The Mother’s Clinic, and carries on today at Family Health Care Centers of Greater Los Angeles.

“There are certain services that this community really needs, like instructional, educational services. Family Health Care Centers has been an incredible resource. They’re our health backbone, really. It’s through FHCCGLA’s outreach with the mobile clinic that people learn they have access to those medical services locally.”
Lani Cupchoy, Consultant for Bell Gardens Intermediate School Gardening Club

FHCCGLA Through The Years

1925
Dr. Henry Brainerd heads The Mother’s Clinic as it opens offices in downtown Los Angeles’ landmark Bradbury Building. The Clinic hopes to encourage healthy families by providing quality medical care to women.

1957
The Mother’s Clinic becomes the first Planned Parenthood Center in Los Angeles. The Center provides family planning education and contraception, and is a proud advocate for women’s health rights.

1960
The US FDA approves The Pill for use as a contraceptive. Clinical research conducted at the Center throughout the 1950’s contributed significantly to the development and refinement of The Pill.

1964
The Center becomes Family Planning Centers of Greater Los Angeles and moves to a larger space in Venice, CA. With four satellite clinics and eight branch clinics, the Centers care for an average of 40,000 patients annually.

1966
The Centers co-sponsors a symposium at UCLA titled, ‘Birth Control: A Continuing Controversy.’ Invited speakers discuss family planning issues, and a recording of the event is broadcast on California public television.

1994
The Centers becomes Family Health Care Centers of Greater Los Angeles. FHCCGLA begins treating local residents at the Bell Gardens Family Medical Center. The Hawaiian Gardens Health Center opens its doors in 1997.

2008
FHCCGLA creates the Campaign for a Healthier Bell Gardens. The Campaign begins outreach with a focus on two critical community issues: teen pregnancy prevention and diabetes education.

2009
The Campaign for a Healthier Bell Gardens completes the Community Mapping Project, gathering detailed information about local access to nutritious food and sharing findings with city officials.

2010
FHCCGLA partners with Kaiser Permanente Downey Medical Center to offer its first Free Surgery Day. Medical staff from both facilities volunteer their time and skills to perform procedures for patients most in need.

Page Six:

Head to Toe Health Care for Families
Patients at Bell Gardens Family Medical Center receive full spectrum health care.

Pediatrics
Our facility operates a pediatric unit that provides infant and child physical exams, hearing and vision evaluations and vaccinations. Special screenings for developmental issues and childhood obesity are available. 

Adolescent Health Care
Young adults are welcome at the Center, where we offer general health services as well as educate teens about sexually transmitted diseases, contraception and pregnancy prevention.

Adult Health Care
Men and women can come to FHCCGLA for general medical care as well as diagnosis and management of chronic conditions, preventive health screenings and referrals to medical specialists or social service organizations when needed. We provide a full array of Well Woman services and screenings.

“Teens from the high school actually come to FHCCGLA. They’re comfortable at the clinics because they’re not being judged. They have that protection and that safety here.”
Catherine Sanchez, Youth Advocate,
Campaign for a Healthier Bell Gardens

Teen Pregnancy
To address the high teen pregnancy rate in Bell Gardens, FHCCGLA has engaged two enterprising teen parents and Bell Gardens High School alumni, Catherine Sanchez and Abel Mejia, as youth advocates.  Motivated to educate their peers, Catherine and Abel meet regularly with student groups at the high school and offer a safe and trustworthy connection to information about pregnancy prevention, sexually transmitted diseases and health services available at the Centers. By reaching out to local teens, FHCCGLA is laying the foundation for more open communication with the city’s young adults, making the clinic a place they can visit without fear of judgment, and where they know their privacy will be respected.

Plant A Seed, Grow A Community

Campaign for a Healthier Bell Gardens
In 2008, FHCCGLA was granted funding through the Community Clinic Initiative, which seeks to encourage community health centers to become catalysts for change in their patient population. With this support, FHCCGLA created the Campaign for a Healthier Bell Gardens. The Campaign brings together the Bell Gardens Chamber of Commerce, the school district and other local organizations to hold events in the city that promote healthy lifestyle choices, offer educational information and let residents know about FHCCGLA and the services available to them here.

School Gardens and Farmer’s Markets
To increase public understanding of good nutrition and stimulate a community conversation about how changes in eating habits can contribute to better health, the Campaign partnered with the Bell Gardens Intermediate School Gardening Program to participate in the students’ monthly Farmer’s Market with a mobile medical clinic. FHCCGLA has also helped the School Gardening Program expand to both Bell Gardens Elementary and Bell Gardens High School, where it has become enormously popular. The community response to the Farmer’s Markets has been positive, and the children working in the gardens cultivate self-esteem and pride in accomplishment while also sharing fresh, healthy foods with their families.

Community Mapping Project
The Farmer’s Markets are important events, because finding nutritious food in the city can be challenging. In 2009, Campaign for a Healthier Bell Gardens Coordinator Cynthia Romo and her team completed the Bell Gardens Community Mapping Project. After a detailed survey of the city’s 2.4 square miles, they found 141 convenience or fast food establishments and just three supermarkets. Since many residents have limited access to transportation, the scarcity of fresh produce in the area puts them at a dietary disadvantage, as evidenced by two issues FHCCGLA clinicians see most often: diabetes and obesity. However, the negative health impacts of both conditions can be reduced through proper nutrition and consistent, quality medical care.

Accessing Wellness
Lack of access is a major obstacle the people of Bell Gardens have to overcome. For many in the region, access to nutritious food, health education and medical services is limited. With the Campaign for a Healthier Bell Gardens, FHCCGLA hopes to increase access and foster positive change in the lives of residents.

“Dr. Petkar even wants to meet my wife. I think she wants to ask her if
I’m doing the things I should be. That shows me that they are very concerned
that people are doing what they’re supposed to be doing to be healthier.”
Jorge Ventura, FHCCGLA Board Member and Patient

STORY OF PATIENT AND BOARD MEMBER, JORGE VENTURA, Page Seven:

Board member and patient Jorge Ventura first came to Bell Gardens Family Medical Center as a representative of Vernon Commerce Credit Union, to present information to FHCCGLA staff about the Credit Union’s account and loan options. Months later, downsizing at the Credit Union cost him his job – and his medical coverage.

Losing his health insurance put Jorge in jeopardy. As a diabetic, he requires regular medical checkups and consistent treatment. Without access to quality care, his health could decline quickly and drastically.

In his time of medical need Jorge returned to FHCCGLA, where he has been able to receive quality treatment to manage his diabetes. He’s built a relationship with his physician, Dr. Petkar, and feels confident that no matter how challenging the future is – he’s still searching for another job – he has the support to live his life in good health.

 

Financial Summary*
From 01/7/09 to 06/30/10

“Free Surgery Day went very well. Everyone involved volunteered
their time, from doctors and nurses to those who cleaned the operating rooms.
That’s commendable, and in my eyes it was very successful.”
Jeff Siccama, FHCCGLA Board President and Patient

Embracing Change

The medical landscape in this country will be changing in the years ahead as a result of federal health care reform. These changes present an opportunity for people who have been shut out of our current health care system to receive quality medical attention on a regular basis. FHCCGLA is committed to making the promise of health care reform a reality for the people of Bell Gardens, Hawaiian Gardens and the surrounding region.

Opening More Doors
FHCCGLA would like to reach more members of the community. We hope to open two additional satellite clinics, in Downey and in South Montebello. Also, vision and dental care are in particularly high demand among our patients, who would benefit greatly from expansion of those services at our clinics.

Increasing Our Community Footprint
Along with expansion, FHCCGLA is focused on continuing our local outreach through the Campaign for a Healthier Bell Gardens, providing mobile clinics at school gardens’ Farmer’s Markets, reaching out to area teens through youth advocates and finding creative ways to build community interest and awareness around lifestyle choices that contribute to better health.

Project RENEW LA
FHCCGLA will build on its outreach activities as part of Project RENEW LA. A two-city partnership between non-profit organizations in Bell Gardens and Maywood, Project RENEW will focus on reducing obesity and obesity-related diseases.

Free Surgery Day
In September 2010, FHCCGLA teamed up with Kaiser Permanente to provide free surgeries to uninsured, low-income patients. Free Surgery Day is a life-changing event for recipients, and one that both organizations plan to provide on a regular basis going forward.

Shaping the Future of Medicine
FHCCGLA takes an interest in the next generation of doctors and nurses, and in 2009 we began to make our clinics available as training facilities. Now, first year medical students and residents from USC, family medicine residents from Downey Regional Medical Center and students in UCLA’s School of Nursing come to FHCCGLA for on-site education. By supporting these training programs, FHCCGLA hopes to promote primary medicine as a vocation, as well as introduce future health care professionals to the experience of practicing medicine at community health centers.

After 85 Years, A Healthy FHCCGLA
At a time when availability of state funds is in decline and health care costs are at an all-time high, while people are experiencing persistent unemployment and the number of families living in poverty is rising, FHCCGLA stands ready to help. Through support from local businesses and compassionate citizens with an interest in public health, Family Health Care Centers of Greater Los Angeles continues to offer complete, quality medical care to those in need.

 

“I think the sense of family at FHCCGLA stands out.  Everybody cares. They all have one goal, and
that is to make a difference in the
lives of people who are less fortunate.”
Jacqueline Derimow, FHCCGLA Board Secretary and Patient

Mission Statement
“To enhance the quality of life of men, women and children in the
greater Los Angeles area through the provision of high quality,
accessible and affordable health care services.”

Board of Directors

Please direct all Board of Directors correspondence to:
Bell Gardens Family Medical Center
Attn: Board of Directors
6501 South Garfield Avenue
Bell Gardens, CA 90201

FHCCGLA would like to express our gratitude to the consultants from the Taproot Foundation who contributed their time and talents to create our first annual report:  Gena Davis, Account Director; Adreena Thomas, Project Manager; Lindsay Harbinson, Marketing Manager; Luciana Melo,
Strategy Analyst; Grace Comisso, Graphic Designer; Kevin Eaton, Graphic Designer; Betsy Winchell, Photographer; Rachel Whitman, Copyeditor.