Wednesday, April 30, 2025
4/30/2025
Congressionally Directed Spending for Construction Projects - Via Care Community Health Center 4755 E. Cesar E. Chavez Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90022 Project Director: Patti Wagonhurst Phone: 213-453-3727 Website: http://www.viacarela.org Requested: $389,000 Grant Program: HRSA-23-117 Via Care Community Health Center, a 501(c)(3) federally qualified health center (FQHC), respectfully requests community project funding for new medical and dental equipment and supplies for our Cesar Chavez Health Center, which serves more than 3,100 low-income patients annually through 14,000 visits in unincorporated East LA. New equipment will create a beautiful, modern environment in which to provide comprehensive medical, dental and behavioral health services for our community, and is vitally important to ensure quality care and health equity, particularly for our sickest patients with multiple chronic conditions. Quality of care and patient experience are of critical importance, particularly during the pandemic when some patients, despite safety precautions, vaccines and testing, are still reluctant to come to the clinic for life-saving preventative care. According to the UCLA Luskin School of Public Policy, East LA is one of the LA communities hardest hit by the pandemic. The social and economic impact has been devastating with regard to job displacement, lack of enrollment in unemployment insurance benefits, renter vulnerability, shelter in place burden, and low representation in the 2020 census (Ong, October 1, 2020). Via Care has been witnessing these issues first hand, and they are not likely to subside for a very long time to come. Unincorporated East LA has consistently ranked in the top communities in LA County for numbers of COVID infections and deaths. Via Care responded immediately to pandemic lockdown orders to offer telehealth to our patients, and to administer COVID-19 tests to the community. Via Care has continued to test and administer vaccines in our clinics and in our clinic parking lot, rain or shine, day in and day out throughout this pandemic. The East LA community needs a state-of-the-art clinic to treat its patient’s many health issues; the morbidity and mortality rates in unincorporated East LA are considerably higher than those of Los Angeles County. The 5-year average age-adjusted death rates associated with diseases of the heart, malignant neoplasms (cancers), cerebrovascular disease (stroke), diabetes mellitus, pneumonia and influenza, and chronic liver disease and cirrhosis each surpass the county and state death rates. The overall death rate, the strongest indicator of overall health, is significantly higher (653.3/100,000) than in Los Angeles County (614.9/100,000), due to lack of access to regular primary health care to treat chronic health conditions such as diabetes, hypertension/heart disease, chronic liver disease, and cirrhosis combined with other unfavorable socioeconomic conditions. This project will benefit the low-income community of unincorporated East Los Angeles, and will serve 3,100 low-income individuals of all ages through 14,000 medical, dental and behavioral health visits. Among our patients served at the Cesar Chavez Health Center are important subpopulations: Students of East LA College (with which Via Care has a contract to serve the student population), LGBTQ individuals, individuals struggling with opioid overuse, HIV positive individuals and those at risk of HIV, patients with Hepatitis C, patients with multiple chronic conditions, and individuals with a history of incarceration.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).