Vital New Community Health Center Opens Doors In South LA
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A new health and wellness center opened in South LA Monday, marking the four-year anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act.
The new S. Mark Taper Foundation Health and Wellness Campus, located at 808 W. 58th Street, will serve up to 30,000 people in some of LA's area's poorest communities, officials said.
"Our doors are also open wide to undocumented residents in our communities and anyone else not covered by health insurance who needs care," said St. John's President and CEO Jim Mangia.
The 10 a.m. event was attended by White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett and allowed residents to sign up for the Affordable Care Act prior to the March 31 deadline.
"This is a wonderful example of what the Recovery Act and the Affordable Care Act can do to touch the lives of people in the community," Jarrett said.
Doctors, likewise are pleased with their new resources to treat the community.
"This is huge, I mean this space, in and of itself, not only gives us more room to see patients, but it really has empowered to patients to feel like they have something to be proud of as well," Dr. Mimi Choi said.
The ability to open the center reportedly came from nearly $9 of funding directly from Obamacare.
One of the key services the center will now be able to provide, which the area had never had before, is dental care.
According to reports, over sixty percent of children under the age of five in South Los Angeles have never been to the dentist.
For more information about the Affordable Care Act, visit the site online.
