AltaMed Health Services Corporation: celebrating 35 years of service and commitment to family.

It all started in spring of 1969. America wrestled with the great debate over equal rights and access to health care and social services. In the midst of this turbulence, AltaMed, first known as El Barrio Free Clinic, was born in East Los Angeles. Doctors, nurses and social Workers--all volunteers--began serving people who had no place to turn for basic health care.

The first AltaMed clinic was a modest storefront in the business district of East LA on Whittier Boulevard. Hours of operation were from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., a time when volunteer doctors, nurses, and social workers could serve the people seeking medical services. A familiar sight back then was individuals and families lined up around the block waiting to be seen at the clinic. No one was ever turned away. In its first year, the clinic received a grant for $10,000. With that start-up funding, the clinic served 11,000 people--the cost of less than one dollar per patient.

In the early seventies, the federal government responded to the growing number of individuals not receiving health care services by creating the Urban Health Initiative. This initiative defined what a community health center should look like. El Barrio Free Clinic's name was changed to La Clinica Familiar Del Barrio and under the new initiative, La Clinica Familiar Del Barrio was designated as a federally qualified health center, providing services in a "medically underserved area." Medically underserved is officially defined as an area with a ratio of only one doctor per 11,000 people, as compared to the accepted community standard of one physician for every 450 people.

After eight years of scraping together the funds for basic clinical supplies while overseeing the hard work of dozens of doctors and other volunteer health professionals, La Clinica received its first federal grant in 1977. The grant enabled the clinic to increase its services and the organization name changed to AltaMed Health Services Corporation (AltaMed).

Care for a Community in Need

For 35 years now, AltaMed has provided coordinated, culturally appropriate health and human services in Los Angeles County, with particular attention to Latino and multi-ethnic communities. AltaMed maintains a fundamental commitment to provide medical care to the uninsured as well as the underinsured population. The organization serves the community across all generations via medical and dental clinics, geriatric care, home care, HIV/AIDS services, youth services, and substance abuse prevention and treatment programs.

AltaMed provides care to over 46,000 patients at 19 service outlets, including 6 stand-alone health care clinics, 2 mobile health care units, and 11 social service sites. The health care clinics are located in East Los Angeles (two sites), downtown Los Angeles, Bell, Pico Rivera, and El Monte.

AltaMed's service area is projected to experience a 5% overall population growth over the next five years, with the 45-64 age group expected to grow more rapidly, with a 20% increase. The median household income for AltaMed's service area is lower ($35,954) than the median for Los Angeles County ($44,692). Over one-third of AltaMed clients do not have health insurance.

With an annual operating budget of $55 million, AltaMed is the largest nonprofit health care agency in the Greater East Los Angeles Area--servicing an area covering 46 zip codes. Nearly a quarter of the people in AltaMed's service area are Medi-Cal eligible, but only about half of these people are enrolled in a managed care plan. With support from various grants, AltaMed works to promote health insurance enrollment into low cost or no cost insurance programs such as Medi-Cal, Health Families, California Kids and Healthy Kids.

AltaMed promotes economic and community development and has become the second largest employer in the Greater East Los Angeles area with over 900 mission-driven staff members. The majority of the staff is bilingual (Spanish/English Cantonese/English or Mandarin/English) and has an understanding of the multi-cultural background of its patients. AltaMed clinics and program sites strive to be the epitome of patient-centered care. Each site is beautifully decorated with living room style furniture and themed exam rooms and activity areas. AltaMed champions professional staff development and encourages employees to be open minded, innovative and committed to their patients and fellow workers.

AltaMed is lead by the organization's president and CEO Castulo de la Rocha, JD, nine senior management professionals, and a Board of Directors representing AltaMed's diverse service population with Latino (5), Asian (2), and Caucasian (3) members. Fifty-one percent of AltaMed's Board of Directors is comprised of AltaMed patients.

As a nationally recognized community-based primary care health provider, AltaMed has received numerous awards, including the U.S. Surgeon General's Gold Medallion for Public Health. In late 2000, AltaMed embarked on the rigorous Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) process. Although JCAHO accreditation is not required by county, state, or federal law, AltaMed pursued it to ensure that all patients at their clinics would continue to receive consistent, high quality care.

AltaMed received high accreditation scores from JCAHO in five areas: Behavioral Health, Ambulatory Health Care, Health Care Network, Home Care, and the BuenaCare Methadone Program.

Celebrating Success

To celebrate all it has done for the community it serves over the last three and a half decades, AltaMed will host a 35th Anniversary Gala this year on April 30th, at 6:30 p.m. at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel. AltaMed and the event chairs, Henry Holguin, Peter Kelly and Richard Marciniak, are privileged to recognize the contributions of three leaders in addressing health care disparities and increased access to care for the underserved: Dr. Robert Ross, President and CEO of The California Endowment; Carmela Castellano, CEO of the California Primary Care Association; and Dr. Robert Tranquada, Former Dean, USC School of Medicine.

The anniversary gala will be a wonderful opportunity for AltaMed's friends, leaders and supporters to commemorate the vision, compassion and commitment that the founders had for their community and which AltaMed's CEO, Castulo de la Rocha, and his AltaMed team carry forward today and into the future.

In short, AltaMed's mission today is the same as it was 35 years ago:

To increase access and provide quality health care to the medically underserved Latino and multi-ethnic communities of Southern California.

For more information, please contact AltaMed Health Services' Corporate Office at 500 Citadel Drive, Suite 490, Los Angeles, California 90040, call [phone] or visit www.AltaMed.org.