By Lauren Ventura | SDUN Editor

Although breaking news deflects the issue periodically, health care in the United States has become a hot button topic since the economy began freefalling, and Uptown-area residents are no strangers to health care woes. In fact, 2009 data from area clinics, which provide free and grant-funded health services to those without coverage, shows the situation appears to be at a boiling point.

The Council of Community Clinics (CCC)—which includes the San Diego American Indian Health Center and the Comprehensive Health Center both in Bankers Hill, among others—has just completed its 2009 profile of CCC community clinics based on data just released by the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development’s (OSHPD) annual reported use of primary care. The results demonstrated the deepening effects of the economy on residents of San Diego County Gary Rotto said, CCC director of health policy. Results showed that all the patient demographic numbers for 2009 increased significantly from 2008. Not only have the clinics seen a huge jump in patients from 2008 to 2009, patients with private insurance dropped from 2008 to 2009 from 23,565 to 21,962. The CCC patient profile changed too. The percent of those below the poverty line rose 8 percent, and the number of white patients also rose almost 5 percent.

“We certainly saw (with this data) what is going on with the economy. The number of people who either were, or still are, unemployed or underemployed, which means they’ve been switched to part-time work and have lost their health coverage, (and) well, they’re all coming to us,” Rotto said during a recent interview with San Diego Uptown News. “It’s almost a 20 percent increase in the number of patients in one year—that is just huge.”

Fran Butler-Cohen, a representative for Family Health Centers of San Diego (FHCSD) said they too are seeing an increase in patients. FHCSD operates the North Park Family Health Center located at 3544 30th St., which was expanded in 2009 to include a HIV Service Center, with the entire center being greatly utilized by the North Park community and beyond.

“From my talks with other clinic managers, it would appear that there is an increase in former-middle class residents seeking health care,” Butler-Cohen said.

In 2009, North Park Family Health Center saw 23,672 patients who were given 89,118 health contacts and/or visits. The organization saw a 10 percent increase in overall patients, but a 14.9 percent increase in those patients who were reported as uninsured.

“This speaks volumes on what population segment in now in need,” she said.

Rotto explained that the CCC has been struggling to accommodate the large increase in clinic patients under the fiscal constraints of a faltering California budget, but that innovative solutions are always being formulated. There are 16 clinic CEOs that run the more than 100 clinic sites throughout San Diego County, he said, and each CEO faces their own set of issues based on their neighborhood’s demographic and economy.

“How they go about delivering services, to the type of care coordination, to not just using doctors and providers to provide patient education, to expanding hours of operation in a constrained fiscal environment—they have to get creative under these circumstances,” Rotto said. “The clinics are all community-rooted and the community always comes first—then they figure out how to pay for it.”

Most of the patients who come to the clinics have a chronic condition: asthma, hypertension or diabetes.

“Those are probably the three most common illness we see that people are struggling to manage or regulate,” Rotto said.

Butler-Cohen noted there is also an increasing demand for mental health services.

“It is a troubling time for people, full of economic uncertainty. Recently, one of the Port businesses invited us to talk to about 600 employees that were in the process of receiving lay-off notices. We at least could share with them how to access healthcare and other related services when they no longer had health benefits. COBRA is just too expensive for families trying to stretch and keep a roof over their heads and food on the table,” she said.

Both the CCC and FHCSD representatives said they have experienced state cuts to programs and additional cuts to programs that exclusively serve the uninsured, but that regardless of the situation they encourage community residents to seek assistance if they’re in need.

“The best information is finding out what programs can cover specific needs. North Park Family Health Center has many programs that are grant-funded to help those in need and we also work with the state, local and federal governments in the provision of other programs,” Butler-Cohen said.

These health services include childhood immunizations, well-child care, lead screening, family planning services, pharmaceutical assistance, integrative mental health, cancer screening and treatment, medical care, dental services, and developmental screening for children 0 to 60 months.

Although the future remains uncertain for 2011, Rotto knew one thing for sure.

“It’s hard to say what we will see with the data from 2010, but we know we will see another increase.”

For more information on the CCC and the clinic locations under its umbrella, visit ccc-sd.org, and for more information regarding the North Park Family Health Center and the FHCSD, visit fhcsd.org.