Expanding Clinic Asks for Residents’ Help

With its clientele rapidly increasing as more people seek low-cost medical care, Huntington Beach Community Clinic is moving to a larger building and is asking the community to pitch in and help fix up the new digs.

The nonprofit organization is buying a building next door to its current location on Newman Avenue just off Beach Boulevard, said Jackie Cherewick, executive director.

“We’ll be able to afford our patients better care in less crowded conditions,” said Cathy Green, president of the clinic’s board, adding that people must now stand in hallways as they wait to see a doctor.

The new building, purchased with a $700,000 bank loan, will have the much-needed space but requires about $260,000 in renovations so that it can accommodate a lab, pharmacy, counseling center and prenatal care facilities.

At an open house from 5 to 7 p.m. today at the clinic’s new facility, 8041 Newman Ave., the staff will be showing off the new building and appealing to residents and businesses to contribute to the remodeling project.

“We’re hoping we’re able to find funding and people to support us so we can meet the needs,” said Don Watson, a clinic board member and former city treasurer.

For 25 years, the clinic has been supported by government grants, patient revenue, fund-raisers and donations as it serves people who otherwise could not afford medical care.

From its first home in a downtown storefront, the clinic has relocated four times as its clientele has steadily grown. Last year alone, Watson said, the patient load grew 10% to 35,000 visits.

Green said the increase is spurred by several factors, among them the closing of other community and county clinics because of budget cuts and a rise in the number of people who have lost their jobs and, consequently, their health insurance.

“More and more people just don’t have benefits,” she said.

Clinic services include primary care, mental health counseling, HIV testing, prenatal services, women’s health and pediatric care, and community education programs.

The clinic has a paid staff of 53, including physicians, nurses, lab technicians and clerical workers, as well as a large corps of volunteers.

Cherewick said the clinic serves from 100 to 120 patients a day from across Orange County and surrounding counties.

Though 98% of the patients are poor, she said, those who can make payments based on what their incomes and family sizes will allow.

“No one gets turned away,” Watson said.