FORUM SHINES SPOTLIGHT ON PLAN TO PRIVATIZE GLENDALE HEALTH CENTER
Asbarez
ht-on-privatization-plan/
Feb 26th, 2010
GLENDALE-More than 80 health care workers, patients, and community
members turned out this past Saturday for a special community-wide
forum shedding light on LA County Supervisor Mike Antonovich’s proposal
to privatize the Glendale Health Center. The Armenian Youth Federation
joined together with SEIU Local 721 to bring the issue directly before
the community and into the public’s awareness.
"With so many of the patients at the clinic being medically-underserved
Armenians, we could not help but get involved when we learned about
what was happening," said Serouj Aprahamian, Executive Director of
the AYF and emcee for the event. "As an organization dedicated to
social justice, we found it necessary to bring this issue out from
under the dark and inform our community about the threats posed by
privatization ."
The Glendale Health Center (GHC) is one of LA County’s most successful
primary care clinics, with over 3,500 patients and 11,000 patient
visits each year-the vast majority of whom are uninsured Armenian and
Spanish-speaking elderly. In October of 2008, Supervisor Antonovich
called for studying the feasibility of handing GHC over to a private
company. The details of the proposal have yet to be released to
the public.
Bob Schoonover, President of SEIU Local 721-the union representing
many of the health care workers at GHC-spoke at the forum about the
shrouded nature of the privatization plan. "If I was him [Antonovich],
and going to consider this, I would have a forum to let constituents
weigh in on it," he said. "Till today the results of the report have
not been made public."
Schoonover added that he personally relayed an invitation to the
Supervisor to attend the forum but got back no response.
Another speaker at the forum was Rosie Martinez, a public health nurse
with over 27 years of experience serving in LA County. She spoke
about how access to health care has been diminishing in Glendale
throughout recent years and pointed out that privatizing GHC will
lead to an influx of patients on the surrounding clinics, causing
even greater strain to health care in the area.
Marina Manukian, a nurse at GHC, also took to the podium, providing a
health care worker’s perspective on the proposed privatization. "Our
patients have confidence and trust in our staff," she explained.
"Privatizing the clinic will cut access to quality services for so
many who rely on it."
Also in attendance was Nina Martin, a patient at GHC who described her
experience there as caring and attentive in comparison with privately
run facilities. "With private doctors you wait and wait for hours
just to be seen," she said. "They overbook because there is a profit
motive. GHC doesn’t work like that. You go, see your doctor and they
give you the help you need."
Other speakers at the event included John Tanner, Executive Director
of SEIU Local 721, Richard Zaldivar, President and Founder of Wall
Las Memorias, and Nairi Nahapetian, candidate for California’s 43rd
Assembly District seat. A brief video titled "Misguided Priorities:
The Case for Glendale Health Center," was also shown. In addition,
attendees were broken up into groups where they discussed their health
care experiences and drafted letters to Antonovich calling for him
to drop the privatization plan.
Commitment cards were also passed out to the audience, encouraging
participants to get involved in the campaign to save the Glendale
Health Center. Many of the participants at the forum committed
themselves to staying vigilant and taking action on this important
issue affecting their community.
The first of such actions came just days after the forum, on February
23, when members of SEIU, the AYF and local constituents visited
Supervisor Antonovich’s office in Pasadena. They presented the letters
drafted at the forum to his staff and relayed their concerns to the
Supervisor’s Health Deputy, Phillip Chen.
"The fact of the matter is that it is up to us to be aware of what
is going on in our community and protect access to basic rights like
health care," said Aprahamian. "If they do not reach out and include
the people in the process, the onus is on the people to be involved
and make their voice heard."