I\u2019ve tried to avoid complaining about specific federal government policies in this space, primarily to maintain my philosophy of only worrying about what you have some control over.<\/p>\n
But this particular federal policy is hitting far too close to home to ignore. And I think there might be something we can do about it.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll get to that in a bit.<\/p>\n
One of the many 180-degree shifts perpetrated by the Trump administration has been in health care. It would take more than this column just to list the ways health research and health support has been decimated by the \u201cMake America Healthy Again\u201d crowd. I can\u2019t bring myself to identify the leader of that pack, because I revere a previous generation that carried the same last name, but you know who I mean.<\/p>\n
During this year\u2019s Long Beach city budget discussions, you\u2019re going to hear a lot about how elimination of research grants, immunization funding and more has impacted our Long Beach Health Department. The City Council is going to have a tough time deciding what to drop and what to try to find the money to keep going.<\/p>\n
Pretty much every other agency and nonprofit that has a hand in providing healthcare is getting hit too. We\u2019ve all heard about the insurance crisis, especially amongst the working poor.<\/p>\n
That has generated a population of uninsured \u2013 and these people get sick, too. Some try to just struggle by, but when they get sick enough, they turn to the hospitals \u2013 particularly those hospitals who consider it a part of their mission to help everyone, whether they can pay or not.<\/p>\n
Full disclosure here. I am a member of the St. Mary Medical Center Foundation board. I\u2019ve been there for almost three years now, and I\u2019m pretty familiar with the workings and philosophy of the hospital.<\/p>\n
So I\u2019m going to talk about that. In particular, I\u2019m going to talk about a small corner at St. Mary called the CARE Center.<\/p>\n
Back in 1986, when a group of Catholic nuns (the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word) still had some say, St. Mary decided that they would treat people with the plague of the day, HIV\/AIDS. They ultimately created a center of comprehensive care \u2013 the Comprehensive AIDS Resource & Education Center (CARE). At the time, there were still hospitals and clinics who turned away those suffering from the mysterious disease.<\/p>\n
Today, the CARE Center provides comprehensive services in an outpatient setting. That includes HIV and STI testing, PrEP and PEP services, rapid start antiretroviral treatment, drug assistance, a food pantry, dental care, case management, benefits assistance and much more.<\/p>\n
This center helps people suffering from HIV\/AIDS cope with the disease and live worthwhile lives, regardless of the ability to pay. For decades, that vital effort has been supported by government grants as well as charitable donations through the foundation, and institutional support.<\/p>\n
It originally looked like the CARE Center budget for 2026 was in decent shape. The $1.2 million in federal grant money had been allocated by Congress as part of a larger package.<\/p>\n
Then the world changed. The Trump administration decided to hold back much of the healthcare money Congress had said the country should spend. That included the $1.2 million for the Long Beach CARE Center.<\/p>\n
Thank God the people at the CARE Center knew they had to carry on, and they did. It has sometimes meant taking less than a full salary home, or stretching supplies or scrounging a little harder for food donations, but they kept going.<\/p>\n
As much as you try, you can\u2019t make up a $1.2 million loss with extra effort, though.<\/p>\n
And this is where the \u201cwhat you can control\u201d part comes into play.\u00a0 The foundation has launched a donation drive, kick-starting it with $50,000 from our reserve. Thanks to the ever-giving Justin Rudd, we\u2019re hosting a reception for an invited group to talk more about the problem \u2013 and the solution.<\/p>\n
The reception is this weekend, but if you really want to come with your checkbook, email Foundation President Michael Neils at michael.neils@commonspirit.org for an invitation.<\/p>\n
You, gentle reader, can help too. We\u2019re accepting donations no matter how big or small. Want to cover the entire $1.2 million yourself? I\u2019ll come pick up your check personally.<\/p>\n
For those of us with more modest means, go to the St. Mary Medical Center Foundation website, www.supportstmary.org. There is a Donate Now button, and emails, telephone numbers and names of those who can help make your generosity happen.<\/p>\n
We can do something about this, and make Long Beach a little better community for a lot of people. God will thank you, the Sisters will thank you, the patients will thank you, and I thank you too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\u2019ve tried to avoid complaining about specific federal government policies in this space, primarily to maintain my philosophy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30193,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[7,8462,8461,131,133,132,137,3738],"class_list":["post-293793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-california","tag-grunion-opinion","tag-grunion-pinch-of-salt","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-los-angeles-county","tag-the-grunion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}