County Receives $3.9-Million Grant for Health Treatment

Eleven months after the Northridge earthquake wrecked buildings and rattled nerves, Los Angeles County received a federal grant Tuesday that will allow it to dispatch mobile health teams to treat people suffering from lingering quake-related health problems.

County officials admitted that timing of the $3.9-million grant--which has been held up in Washington since February--is not the best.

But Jonathan Freedman, the county’s deputy director of public health programs, said late money is better than no money.

“We’re in an odd dilemma,” he said. “Do we not take this money? I think we can do a lot of good with it.”

The grant, originally part of the federal government’s $3-billion earthquake relief bill, will be used to hire about 25 nurses, counselors and community outreach workers, officials said.

The teams will travel hard-hit neighborhoods in vans, inquiring about the physical and psychological health of residents, Freedman said.

Among the target populations, he said, will be elderly people and the homeless--two groups that might have been overlooked immediately after the quake and have not had access to health care since.

“We didn’t respond very well to their needs right after the quake,” Freedman said. “And a lot of elderly people, in particular, have chronic conditions. What we want to make sure is that check-ups regarding those conditions have not been interrupted.”

The mobile clinics will offer on-the-spot check-ups and counseling, Freedman said, but people with more serious problems will be referred to clinics and other health care providers.

The program is similar to one that has been operating in south Florida since Hurricane Andrew struck the area two years ago.

County officials hope to have the local mobile clinics operating within 60 days.

The vans will drive around the San Fernando Valley, Santa Monica, the Hollywood and Wilshire areas, and South-Central Los Angeles, officials said.