LA MAESTRA FAMILY CLINIC INC
This organization has already been registered
Someone in your organization has already registered and setup an account. would you like to join their team?Profile owner : l***y@l*******a.o*g
Mission Statement
Over the past 26 years, La Maestra Community Health Centers has been dedicated to its mission: to provide quality health care and education; to improve the overall wellbeing of the family; bringing the under-served, ethnically diverse communities into the mainstream of our society through a caring, effective, culturally and linguistically competent manner, respecting the dignity of all patients.
About This Cause
La Maestra Amnesty Center, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, was founded in 1986 in City Heights to provide English as a Second Language and vocational classes, and to assist people in San Diego in applying for various legalization statuses. The Student Council, representing the Center’s 12,000 students, recognized a critical need for a health center where families could feel safe, not worry about being denied services based on lack of insurance, and where providers spoke their languages and understood their cultural beliefs. La Maestra Family Clinic, now known as La Maestra Community Health Centers, began in 1991 in City Heights with one volunteer physician and has grown into a PCMH-accredited Federally Qualified Health Center with six health centers and nine dental locations in underserved communities throughout San Diego County, as well as school-based clinics and a mobile clinic. More than 450 staff and dozens of volunteers guide 45,000 patients per year to access healthcare and social services, most of whom are immigrants, refugees, homeless and low-income individuals with complex health and wellbeing needs. La Maestra’s Circle of Care™ is a holistic, solution-based approach to providing programs and services that was created because complete family wellness requires more than just medical services. La Maestra’s team of over 450 staff, who are from the populations served, has embraced the Circle of Care philosophy, working together to identify the total needs of patients and attend to them through preventive care, education, treatment, and referrals to services that address the social determinants of health, ultimately guiding patients and their families to wellbeing and self-sufficiency. The Circle involves a network of integrated services provided at La Maestra Community Health Centers, La Maestra Foundation and partner organizations. Health Services: La Maestra offers a comprehensive range of culturally and linguistically-appropriate services including prevention, treatment, chronic disease management and essential support services to the diverse, low income, uninsured and underinsured patients who have chosen La Maestra as their health home. In 2014, La Maestra health centers served 40,074 patients through 166,319 medical and dental visits, 4,494 mental health visits, and 47,499 professional enabling encounters. Of those patients, 90% prefer to be served in a language other than English; 98% live below the federal poverty level; 25% are uninsured; fewer than one percent have private insurance and 74% rely on Medi-Cal, Medicare and other programs that cover limited services. Enabling and social services such as transportation, interpretation (staff speak over 26 languages and dialects), assistance applying for Medi-Cal, Covered CA, CalFRESH and other assistance programs, as well as culturally sensitive health education and outreach services, are integrated into the Circle of Care to reduce the barriers that prevent community residents from accessing vital services and improve compliance rates. Community health promotoras and Medically Trained Cultural Liaisons–medical and support staff trained to provide interpretation on a daily basis–live in the same housing complexes as the populations served and provide valuable, ongoing input to the organization from the Latino, Somali, South Sudanese, Arabic-speaking, Vietnamese, Laotian, Karen, Burmese and other diverse residents. They also inform community members about health education topics and resources to empower them to achieve better health, including classes on early detection of cancer, mental health, obesity and chronic disease prevention, environmental health issues, and how to shop for and cook healthy foods on a small budget. Liaisons help with case management and even bring new patients on their way to work, showing them the public transportation or walking routes from their homes to the clinic. In addition to the promotoras, the health education department has Certified Enrollment Counselors who provide outreach and enrollment services. Digital imaging services offered at La Maestra’s City Heights location include mammography, bone densitometry, x-ray, ultrasound, and fetal and pediatric echo services; CT scanning was added in 2016. La Maestra’s sister nonprofit, Community Health Imaging Centers, launched San Diego County’s first mobile mammography clinic in October 2015. Through the use of state-of-the art telehealth and imaging equipment and teleradiology, patients can access imaging and specialty care in their neighborhood, with La Maestra's culturally sensitive providers who enable access to health. Legal Advocacy Services. La Maestra is located in the most diverse community in San Diego, and one of the most diverse in the US, racially, ethnically and culturally. It is located sixteen miles from the US-Mexico border, and is one of the largest centers for refugee resettlement in the nation. The majority of residents live in poverty and experience high rates of health disparities and crime. Inadequate access to legal services, fear of the police, and cultural and linguistic barriers render the already vulnerable population of City Heights further susceptible to trafficking, sexual assault and violent crime. Community members who face discrimination and violations of their rights often find it difficult to decide what to do first and where to turn for help. La Maestra's Legal Advocacy and Social Services department (LMLASS) was established in 2011 within its flagship health center, to provide education, assistance and support to people who face rights violations or who are victims of crime. The legal advocates do not act as attorneys, but they provide information and referrals that help clients in identifying rights and options as a survivor, and will advocate on their behalf. In 2015, the LMLASS added an immigration attorney. The majority of clients are victims of domestic violence and trafficking. Over the past four years, LMLASS has served more than 1,500 clients; sixty-nine of these are victims of sex or labor trafficking who come from sixteen different countries of origin. Collaborative partners include the US Committee on Refugees and Immigrants, National Human Trafficking Victim Assistance Program, law enforcement agencies, and a network of local non-profits and attorneys providing low-cost legal services, shelter and other assistance. Victims are often identified during their clinical visit at La Maestra's health center. They may open up to the provider about issues affecting their health and wellbeing, or exhibit signs recognized by the staff. All staff within the clinic are trained through LMLASS presentations on recognizing signs of domestic violence and trafficking; maintaining confidentiality and safety and helping make a sensitive, warm referral to the LMLASS office. In other cases, LMLASS' network has helped spread the word so that victims, or other agencies serving them, will reach out to LMLASS for help. Once a victim first accesses a service at La Maestra, they are immediately connected to all of the services within the Circle of Care, including medical, dental, behavioral health; eligibility assistance; nutritious food and basic necessities; financial, social, legal and wellbeing programs. La Maestra serves as a one-stop shop with all of these services in a comprehensive health home, preventing the risk of losing victims before their needs can be addressed, and empowering victims to rebuild their lives.