COMMUNITY VOICES
LOS ANGELES PUBLIC INTEREST LAW JOURNAL
2 L.A. PUB. INT. L.J. 230
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TOWARDS THE BEST STANDARD OF CARE:
INTEGRATION OF DELIVERY OF PUBLIC BENEFITS WITH HEALTHCARE*
Rishi Manchanda

St. John’s Well Child and Family Centers represent a network of federally-qualified health centers in south Los Angeles that has provided health care to low-income and uninsured working families for over forty years. To serve the needs of our patients, St. John’s has developed a full array of medical, dental, mental health, health education, and supportive services, including on-site medical-legal services. In 2008, St. John’s founded the Program in Social Medicine and Health Equity to increase healthcare providers’ ability to collaborate with others, including legal partners, to address the biosocial needs of patients, like those of Mrs. V. Mrs. V had come to our clinic for the first time for a routine examination for her four year old son. It was a Friday, around 4 p.m., several months ago. Her son was relatively healthy. Shortly after starting the examination, I asked her about her family and their well-being; Mrs. V’s eyes began to tear up. When I inquired further, she shared a gripping story. Mrs. V had been diagnosed with leukemia five years earlier and was receiving oncology care at a local county hospital.  Thanks largely to a specific chemotherapeutic medicine covered by Medi-Cal, her disease was in remission.

Here’s where her story turned for the worst.

*This is an excerpt.  For the entire piece, please download the PDF.

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Authors

Rishi Manchanda, MD, MPH is the Director of Social Medicine and Health Equity at St. John’s Well Child and Family Centers (SJWCFC) in Los Angeles, CA. The Program in Social Medicine and Health Equity was founded in 2008 to help the clinic better address social determinants of health through advocacy, community-engaged research, and an integrated and evidence-based biosocial model of health care. SJWCFC is a network of federally-qualified community health centers in South Los Angeles, providing medical, dental, behavioral health, and health education to working poor and uninsured families in eleven clinical sites. Last year, SJWCFC provided over 110,000 patient visits.