Amid fear of ICE raids, SoCal clinic offering home visits to immigrant patients

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Many immigrants in Southern California are scared to leave their homes amid raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Some are even skipping their medical appointments.

A newly launched home-visit program is helping to make sure patients get the care they need during this time.

"There's a climate of fear that's been created as a result of the troops being in the streets," said Jim Mangia, CEO of St. John's Community Health.

These provide free and low-cost health care in Los Angeles, the Inland Empire and the Coachella Valley. Administrators say in the past few days, patient visits have dropped by more than a third.

"We reached out to those patients and called them, and many of them said that they were afraid of the ICE raids. They were afraid of the troops, and they were afraid to come in for their health-care services," Mangia said.

Mangia said he is already seeing how missed appointments are greatly impacting patient care.

"There's patients that are not coming for their prenatal appointments. We're seeing a lot of kids missing their school physical appointments," Mangia said. "We're very, very worried about our patients with chronic illness, patients with diabetes or hypertension."

Because of fear, St. John's Community Health launched Healthcare Without Fear - a program where a doctor or nurse makes house calls.

"What we're seeing now is more and more patients asking for home visits and not wanting to come into the clinic, particularly in the last two days," Mangia said.

Health Care Without Fear has gone from seeing about five patients per week starting in January to now about 50 patients per week. It's a life-saving option, but Mangia wants patients to know inside the clinic, the law protects them.

"The good thing is that exam rooms are safe spaces, and ICE cannot enter unless they have a warrant for a specific individual," said Mangia.

It doesn't take long for patients to get very sick without care. Mangia said he is concerned that as long as ICE raids continue, the health of hard-working Californians will be at risk.

"Our job is to serve people. Our job is to provide health care to people who need it, and regardless of what happens, we will continue to do that," he said.

More than 85% of the clinics' patients are low income and are on Medi-Cal. While home visits are more expensive, it's free to patients. St. John's Community Health absorbs the cost.