About Community Clinic Funding

Just a quick note of encourage to four members of the Orange County Board of Supervisors about todays meeting.

Dear Supervisors,

I am writing today to encourage you to not support Supervisor Moorlach’s effort to remove community clinic funding from Planned Parenthood.

First, the small $50,000 contract for immunization tracking is almost complete and terminating it would disrupt the gathering of important data without reason and only a little more than two months before the end of the contract period.

Second, community clinic services need to be provided where our community clients are. The Planned Parenthood Clinic is one of those places.

The Tobacco Settlement Revenue funding provided to the Coalition of Orange County Community Clinics supports only community based medical services as the voters intended. Supervisor Moorlach’s suggestion that the Board cease funding these vital health care services because other non-funded services are offered is absurd. It would be equally absurd for the Board to cease its annual United Way fundraising campaign because one of the recipient agencies provides contraception information to teen aged girls.

Finally, the Coalition of Orange County Community Clinics has received these funds for years and their member clinics are clearly publicized on their website. There is no evidence to suggest any overt act to conceal the recipients of these funds. It seems more likely that it is simply more efficient and cost effective to distribute these funds in a single large contract rather than multiple smaller contracts.

Politics and religion have no place in public health policy. It is the health of our communities that is important. Please consider this during your deliberations.