 When the Drew Health Center in East Palo Alto closed in 1997, its patients became “medically homeless,” with no reliable primary care medical services available nearby. Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital saw an opportunity to establish new Community Benefits partnerships to build a new health center for the area. Central to this effort was collaboration between Packard Children’s, the San Mateo County Health Services Agency, El Concilio of San Mateo, the City of East Palo Alto and the Peninsula Community Foundation. This team acted quickly to reactivate federal funding, develop a new nonprofit organization with a board of directors and governance structure, coordinate interim clinical and support services, and develop plans for permanent clinical facilities.The cost of building and installing modular buildings was provided by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Peninsula Community Foundation, while the City of East Palo Alto provided property for a new clinic with a $1 annual rental charge. Packard Children’s provided obstetric and pediatric services in temporary facilities in the East Palo Alto Municipal Building, while the San Mateo Health Services Agency offered adult medical care, administrative support and shuttle services for community residents to county clinics and services at Packard Children’s and Stanford Hospital & Clinics. Ravenswood Family Health Center opened its doors in December 2001, and now serves more than 11,000 patients, with about 30 new patients enrolling each day. Some 92 percent of Ravenswood patients live at or below 200 percent of federal poverty level, 60 percent are uninsured and 43 percent are children age 12 or younger. Increased immunization rates in the Ravenswood City School District signal the impact that joint efforts by Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and Ravenswood Family Health Center have had on this community. In September 2002, only 50 percent of kindergartners and 25 percent of seventh graders had their required vaccinations. A summer 2004 audit revealed that approximately 2,000 students in the district either lacked records of their immunizations, or had not had the required immunizations at all. In response, Packard’s Pediatric Van increased visits to East Palo Alto schools, and Ravenswood Family Health Center expanded its drop-in immunization clinics. By the start of the 2005 academic year, immunizations were at 100 percent, and the district can keep up with immunizing the steady influx of 30-40 new students each month. Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital’s financial and in-kind support is critical to the ongoing success of RFHC, even though the center has multiple other reimbursement and philanthropic supports. Packard provides pediatricians, obstetrician/gynecologists, social workers and programs, in addition to funding support. Most recently, Packard Children’s donated one of its mobile health units to allow Ravenswood to reach homeless and uninsured individuals in the surrounding area whose circumstances make it exceptionally difficult to obtain basic care. Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital’s partnership with Ravenswood Family Health Center has been recognized nationally as a model for hospital-community clinic partnerships. FY 2005 activity Lucile Packard Children's Hospital is located in Palo Alto, adjacent to Stanford University Hospital, approximately 20 miles north of San Jose, CA and 40 miles south of San Francisco.
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