Federal funding cuts force OC Health Care Agency to close some clinics

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- The Orange County Health Care Agency is closing several of its clinics due to federal funding cuts.

Its clinics provide public health services across county communities through coordinating public and private-sector resources.

Recent cuts will force the regional provider to close the children and family planning clinic and stop dental service at its 17th Street clinic in Santa Ana.

"The impacts are real. Once we reduce our funds, we have no funds in order to provide the service," said Dr. Veronica Kelley, director of O.C. Health Care Agency.

So far, the Health Care Agency has lost five grants, totaling $13 million, due to federal funding cuts.

"These are for looking at disease, doing disease surveillance, figuring out what's causing the disease and then treating the disease as well as looking at the laboratory specimens of the disease," said Kelley.

Dr. Kathy Cosentino is an OB-GYN at the 17th Street children and family planning clinic. She says when she found out the clinic was slated to close, she sat at her desk and cried.

"They know our clinic. They trust us. They're getting good preventative care here, and it's just a huge, huge loss for our community," said Cosentino.

According to Kelley, O.C. Health Care Agency will also reduce the size of women, infants & children (WIC) clinics in Santa Ana and Buena Park.

WIC is a federal program that provides families with free healthy food, nutrition education, breastfeeding support and referrals to health care services.

Kelley says the Health Care Agency's WIC funding has been reduced by about $750,000.

Amid the funding cuts, O.C. Health Care Agency plans to help impacted families transition to other community partners.

"The good thing is we have a very robust Medi-Cal system. Our managed care partners, CalOptima and Kaiser, can provide that care, and our community clinics can provide the care to people who might be unfunded and/or undocumented."

O.C. Health Care Agency says dental services at the 17th Street clinic will stop on May 6. The children and family planning clinic will close on June 30.