Clinic seeks donors for remodeling

After plans to move into a new building fell through last year, the

Laguna Beach Community Clinic has taken a different tack.

In an effort to improve the look of their building, the staff of

the clinic is asking residents to adopt rooms in the facility and fix

them up.

The waiting room and one of the clinic’s nine exam rooms have been

adopted already.

Dr. Thomas Bent, who heads the clinic, created the refurbishment

plan, dubbed “A New Face for a Caring Place.”

The clinic is a nonprofit organization that provides medical care

to Orange County residents regardless of their ability to pay.

Though Bent and the rest of the staff would like to have people

adopt rooms, they are looking for anyone willing to contribute to the

project. They need donors to cover everything from buying new

cabinets to repaving the parking lot.

“It’s mostly cosmetic,” said Bent. “When people come here for

medical treatment, the look of the building should reflect that they

get excellent care and [that] we have some of the best doctors in

California working here.”

The staff includes current and former UC medical professors. Dr.

Korey Jorgensen, the 2004 California Physician of the Year and a

partner at the clinic, said the look they were going for was “clean”

and “professional,” a look that’s “respectful to patients and staff.”

“We’re open to anyone with the checkbook and the will to [adopt a

room],” Jorgensen said. “We like designers because they already have

all the connections to do the whole room, but if ordinary people have

the money, we have the vendors lined up.”

So far, some donors have been lined up for new countertops, but

the children’s exam rooms still look like walk-in closets, some of

the outside lights still don’t work and each door knob in the

building is different.

For more information or to make a donation, contact Elaine Smith

at (949) 494-0761, ext. 134.