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Ravenswood Family Health Center Struggles With Repercussions of State Budget Crisis

Posted on: Monday, 20 August 2007, 15:02 CDT

PALO ALTO, Calif., Aug. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Most young patients of the Ravenswood Family Health Center have no idea what the word 'budget' means. But the crisis in Sacramento is hitting close to home in this East Palo Alto-based clinic that serves mainly the working poor. The non-profit community health center is scrambling to pay both its bills and its staff without the support of state-funded Medi-Cal reimbursements during the current budget stalemate.

"It's affecting our ability to function," said Ravenswood CEO Luisa Buada, RN, MPH. "We've delayed the anticipated start of critically needed community mental health services and have slowed our hiring process for vacancies. If this impasse continues into mid-September we will have to consider limiting access to care."

Lucile Packard Children's Hospital recently approved a $175,000 short-term loan to the clinic to help avoid payroll shortfalls and keep the clinic afloat.

"The state is putting the lives of the most vulnerable at risk with its failure to pass a budget," said Packard Children's CEO Christopher Dawes. "Our partnership with Ravenswood drove us to step in to help, but many other community centers don't have such support. The Governor and the legislature need to approve a budget promptly so that organizations like Ravenswood and the communities they serve are not harmed."

California is one of only three states in the country that require a two-thirds majority to pass a budget. Although the state's fiscal year began on July 1, lawmakers have been unable to agree on the 2007-2008 spending plan.

"It's frustrating," said State Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto). "We're just one vote shy of a budget. I'm not sure that all of my colleagues understand the impact that this impasse is having on folks of modest means. I'm just glad that Lucile Packard Children's Hospital has stepped up so that community needs will continue to be met."

"Lucile Packard Children's Hospital has done a truly noble act in coming to the aid of the most vulnerable in their time of need," agreed State Assembly Member Ira Ruskin (D-Redwood City). "The community is grateful for the Hospital's generosity. It is unconscionable that California's two-thirds vote requirement for passing a budget has allowed a small group in the Senate to hold the budget hostage -- even after Assembly Democrats and Republicans, the Governor, and Senate Democrats have agreed on a fiscally responsible bi-partisan spending plan for the state."

Without an agreement, hospitals, health centers, schools and other institutions that depend on state payments for all or part of their operating expenses are left without funds. Some have turned to conventional loans to cover shortfalls, but they carry an interest burden that will not be reimbursed even after the budget has passed.

"The clinics are fulfilling their obligation to the community, but the state is not," said Sherri Sager, Packard Children's government relations officer. "Although our local legislators have been supportive, Ravenswood and many other community health clinics are suffering because of the inability of the legislature as a whole to come to an agreement on this issue. Many of these institutions operate so close to the margin that any delay in reimbursement can and often does produce real hardships."

Packard Children's partnership with Ravenswood Family Health Center is long standing. When East Palo Alto's Drew Health Center closed its doors in 1997, Packard Children's, the San Mateo County Health Services Agency, El Concilio of San Mateo, the City of East Palo Alto and the Peninsula Community Foundation worked together to establish the new community health center. In addition to funding support, the hospital provides Ravenswood with pediatricians, obstetricians, gynecologists, social workers and programs. In 2006, the hospital also donated one of its mobile health units to allow Ravenswood to reach homeless and uninsured individuals in the surrounding area whose circumstances make it exceptionally difficult to obtain basic care.

"The fact that we have a partner willing to help us out during this financial crisis is just amazing," said Buada. "We are very grateful. But it doesn't diminish the fact that the legislature is not demonstrating the kind of moral leadership that we need. They have an obligation to take care of the needy and most vulnerable members of our society. Instead, those with the smallest voice in this fight are paying the greatest price."

Lucile Packard Children's Hospital

CONTACT: Todd Kleinheinz of Lucile Packard Children's Hospital,+1-650-387-5421

Web site: http://www.lpch.org/

Source: PRNewswire

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