Medical clinic lobbies for tobacco settlement money

Elise Gee

COSTA MESA -- For someone in the business of caring for others, it

can be torture having to close your door on a chronic diabetes or

emphysema sufferer because you have no room.

Due to a lack of resources, that’s what the staff at Share Our Selves

medical clinic must do all too often.

Costa Mesa health care leaders and in particular, Share Our Selves

founder Jean Forbath, are playing integral roles in the movement to

invest tobacco settlement funds in health care.

Forbath is one of the founders of the Health Alliance to Reinvest the

Tobacco Settlement (HARTS). The group was founded earlier this year and

is leading the organized effort to lobby the county board of supervisors

to set aside for social services part of the $912 million being funneled

into Orange County during the next 25 years as a result of a national

settlement of a tobacco lawsuit.

The Health Alliance to Reinvest the Tobacco Settlement is made up of more

than 50 social and health care agencies, some of whom implored the board

of supervisors in a workshop last week not to spend the settlement on

paying off the county’s debt and building a county jail.

“I’ve been testifying at county budget hearings for probably 20 years

asking for an increase in health care funding,” Forbath said. “Before the

bankruptcy, the county was spending $41 million for health care, which

was the second lowest for all counties in California per capita. After

the bankruptcy, it was $28 million. It’s now up to $34 million.”

That $34 million isn’t enough to meet the health care needs, particularly

for the working poor in the county, she stressed.

“We have been turning away chronic care patients for many months now,”

Forbath said. “We would love to expand our clinics to Saturdays so we can

serve more people, but unfortunately the more people we serve the more

resources we need.”

The medical portion of Share Our Selves opened 15 years ago after the

county hospital closed. Even though it’s open about 60 hours a week and

offers staggered schedules for patient convenience, there are still

people whose needs are going unmet, said Karen McGlinn, the center’s

director.

Clinics have basically become the county facilities for caring for people

without insurance and health care. The burden became heavier when two

clinics in Santa Ana were closed in July.

“The closure was immediate and dramatic for us,” McGlinn said.

Since then, Share Our Selves began to see many more patients suffering

from chronic illnesses.

Forbath said she is somewhat encouraged by last week’s workshop in which

dozens of health care leaders confronted the board about the need for

funding. Paying off the county debt and building a county jail are

defined as priorities in the county’s strategic financial plan.

The board has previously promised $1 million next year to clinics to help

expand hours, she said.

“But that money’s a drop in the bucket when you have 13 clinics,” McGlinn

said.

The supervisors are expected to vote on a conceptual plan for spending

tobacco money Nov. 9.

A flush hand

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