Health of the children matters most

Geeta Grover

As a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital of Orange County, I

believe the health and well-being of children is paramount to a

healthy community. The Newport-Mesa Unified School District embraces

that belief as well, and understands that in order to be ready to

learn in school and grow, children need to have access to

high-quality care.

But that care is not available for all children on the Westside of

Costa Mesa.

CHOC and the school district would like to fill a community void,

which is documented with data from the 2000 U.S. census, 2002 Orange

County Health Needs Assessment, California Department of Health

Services and UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

A CHOC clinic would help Costa Mesa children who are clearly in

need and make it far easier for parents who find it difficult to seek

care for their kids because of financial or transportation barriers.

This is not an abstract, hypothetical argument. I know this to be

true from years of providing care to children in other CHOC clinics.

I have had the privilege to work with many wonderful parents who

simply want the best for their children, and have nowhere else to

turn. These are proud, hard-working adults who, like all of us, would

do anything for their children. Most of them walk their children to

our clinics in Santa Ana and Orange; by and large, they live right in

the neighborhoods where our clinics are located.

The demographics in our Southern California communities have

changed. And whether we are willing to acknowledge it or not, the

fact remains: There is tremendous need for children’s health care in

Costa Mesa. I encourage all residents to open their minds and closely

evaluate the positive impact that CHOC has made in other communities

where we have provided pediatric preventive and primary care. And in

the process, I hope you will also open your hearts to what matters

most: the health of children.

* GEETA GROVER is a pediatrician practicing general and

behavioral pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Orange County.