Health care district pours millions into local wellness initiatives
The El Camino Healthcare District board of directors approved a $6.4 million package of new grants intended to improve access to health care among the low-income and minority families, as well as preventative programs aimed to curb the rate of diabetes and hypertension throughout the county.
But the approval at the June 14 board meeting came with some skepticism by board members on whether the funding was being put to good use. Some of the grantees that will continue to receive large sums of money from the health care district this year fell short of expectations by a wide margin last year, failing to provide services to enough patients. Other grants are only tailored to meet the needs of a handful of patients at a high cost in the first place.
In the coming 2016-17 fiscal year, the El Camino Healthcare District is expected to collect just shy of $22 million in property taxes, of which $7 million will be committed to a community benefit fund. This money is then redirected to nonprofits, schools and other agencies to help pay for health programs within the district boundaries, which includes Mountain View Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and a large portion of Sunnyvale.
The big goal for the community benefit program this year was to improve access to health care, which remains a big problem. El Camino Hospital staff, working with neighboring hospitals, put together a "needs assessment" for the broad South Bay area, and found that many residents – particularly in the Latino community – remain uninsured. Lack of affordable care, lack of translation services and cultural barriers remain a big problem, according to the assessment.
Domestic violence, poor access to mental and dental health care, and a growing prevalence of Alzheimer's Disease were all cited as major issues that need to be addressed.
The grant program includes $148,000 to Health Mobile, a Santa Clara-based nonprofit that operates several "mobile clinics" and provides dental care for low-income families and homeless residents. Although the nonprofit only has one fixed location, the mobile clinics provide everything from teeth cleaning and fillings to x-rays and root canals.
Barbara Avery, El Camino's community benefits director, said coverage is not great under Denti-Cal, the dental arm of Medi-Cal, and that adults in particular have trouble finding an affordable dentist. The grant money is expected to help 500 new patients over the next year.
"We would really support more agencies if there were more opportunities to help with dental care," Avery said.
On the mental health front, the health care district contributed $100,000 in grant money this year towards hiring a licensed therapist at the Los Altos School District, who will provide individual and group therapy and "crisis management" intervention for families attending the district's schools. The program is expected to help 100 students.
Mountain View-specific grants include $25,000 in funding for Hope's Corner, a volunteer-run organization by the Trinity United Methodist Church and the Los Altos United Methodist Church to provide free food to residents every Saturday at the corner of Hope and Mercy Streets.
The Mountain View Police Department will also be receiving $25,000 to provide two weeks of summer camp for 100 at-risk youth between fourth and seventh grade. The program is intended to focus on violence and gang prevention, and help kids deal with daily stress caused by financial instability.
The package of grants received the blessing of the board of directors on a 5-0 vote, but not without some serious reservations about some of the grant-winners. Board member Julia Miller questioned whether giving $140,000 to New Directions, a nonprofit that provides intensive case management for patients with chronic health conditions, in order to help an estimated 25 clients, was a good use of taxpayer funds. She also voiced concerns about giving $32,000 to Vision to Learn, a nonprofit that provides eye exams and glasses for students with vision problems at low-income schools. Vision to Learn is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit, and Miller said she would have preferred to steer grant money towards agencies already established here in the Bay Area.
Avery said some of the grants may seem like a disproportionate amount of money is being spent on a small number of people, but the intensity of the programs and the importance of the service can outweigh the desire to help as many people as possible. The nonprofit Maitri, for example, helps South Asian victims of domestic violence and human trafficking, and will receive $30,000 in grant money in the coming year while only serving about 10 people. Although it's a slim group of people who are expected to benefit from the money, Avery said the nonprofit will provide critical legal services for people who may be at risk of deportation.
"It's the only agency in the county that does legal representation for these people," Avery said.
Board member John Zoglin said he was troubled that the community benefit plan continues to fund grant recipients who have fallen well below the goals set by the health care district last year. Valley Health Care Sunnyvale, for example, received just over $1 million in funding from the health care district, and was expected to serve 700 patients over the last six months of 2015 at its Sunnyvale clinic. Zoglin pointed out that the health care center had only managed to meet 44 percent of the goal, which is a problem when this year's plan calls for giving the organization another $968,000 over the next fiscal year.
The trouble is that the six-month "target" for people served by these programs is just one part of a larger picture, Cecile Currier, the hospital's vice president of corporate and community health services, told the board. Often times the health care district will grant funding for an agency, and it will take some time to hire staff and get a new program rolling.
"We have a lot more knowledge about what they're doing to catch up to meet their goals," Currier said.
Zoglin suggested that the board might need more information in the future, and that it's tough making decisions on big spending plans without knowing more.
"I feel like I can only make decisions on the data you give me, and the data you give me shows they're failing."
Avery told the Voice that hospital staff work closely with the partner organizations to make sure the grant money is being put to good use, and that agencies falling behind on goals are required to explain what is being done to get back up to speed. The high cost of living, she said, is putting the squeeze on many nonprofits in the Bay Area, forcing a time lapse in recruitment and uncertainty on whether they can continue to operate in the region.
"Sometimes it just takes time to get them in operational flow," she said. "They may be behind for a few months, but we don't want to just drop them."
