Health Center receives $325,458 from state

Although $325,458 may sound like a lottery payout, it’s actually only half of what the state of California had promised Sonoma Valley Community Health Center this year.
Patricia Talbot, the health center’s executive director, said that the other half is pending because Congress still has not finalized the budget.
The Department of Health Services grant provides the center $650,916 every year for five years – a total of $3.25 million. Talbot expects to receive the money – she just doesn’t know exactly when she can count on the payments.
Grant funds represent only a part of the health center’s complex income structure. Of the overall yearly operations budget of $3.5 million, patient revenues, including money from insurance such as Medi-Cal and Medicare, cover 67 percent. Another 32 percent comes from state and federal grants and the remaining one percent comes from contributions or donations.
The health care center provides a complement to the services the Sonoma Valley Hospital offers.
“You go to the hospital when you have an emergency, or need lab work, or need to be hospitalized. You come to the health center for your normal physicals, immunizations, prenatal care. We provide all that here,” said Talbot. The health center serves as a medical home to the “underserved,” those on Medicare, Medi-Cal, and those without insurance at all.
The health center’s special programs include a diabetic education program led by a registered dietitian, a full obstetrics and gynecology program and a drug and alcohol counseling program for teens.
Like the hospital, Talbot said she needs more family practice doctors, but she has high praise for her own physicians and the specialists who periodically serve at the clinic.
“We’re open Monday through Saturday, and have expanded our hours on Monday and Thursday. We want people to know we’re here for them,” Talbot said. She emphasized that all treatment is confidential. “There is no issue with [immigration] legality,” she said.
Of her overall aim for improving health, she said, “My foremost thing is to bring back physical fitness.”