The Children's Clinic, Serving Children and Their Families

We provide quality health care services and health education and promotion to the neediest children and their families in the Southern California area.  href="mailto:gshulman@TheChildrensClinic.org">gshulman@TheChildrensClinic.org

Why do we exist?

The Children’s Clinic, Serving Children and Their Families (TCC) was founded in 1939 by a group of local physicians and community leaders to provide health care to needy children.  All families are asked to contribute to their care according to a sliding fee scale, yet no one is turned away due to an inability to pay, however most patients are uninsured, underinsured or Medi-Cal recipients, and have family income not greater than 200% of the established poverty level.  Ninety-nine percent of children served come from families living at or below the poverty level and 50% have no health insurance. Eighty percent of the most severely disabled children in Southern California are cared for at The Children’s Clinic.

The Clinic receives referrals from school nurses, local physicians, community agencies and parents to access high-quality, compassionate health care at low or no cost. The Children’s Clinic serves as a true medical home with 24-hour telephone accessibility to staff physicians and care for children and adults who are hospitalized. This provision of service to the most needy children and their families is unprecedented among other health care providers and community clinics in the Southern California area.

The Children’s Clinic provides care for the most under-served populations in Southern California communities. According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Shortage Designation, thirty-one of the census tracts comprising The Children’s Clinic’s service area are currently listed in the Medically Underserved Area Designations, indicating a severe lack of health services.

The target population of The Children’s Clinic programs is low income, ethnically diverse children and their families, who live predominately in the 90802, 90803, 90804, 90805, 90806, 90807 and 90813 zip codes of Southern California. Patient ethnicity is Latino (76%), African American (12%), Asian (4%), White/non-Latino (3%), Native American (1%), Pacific Islander/Native Hawaiian (1%) and Other (3%).  Overcrowding, unemployment, violence, language barriers, diverse cultural beliefs, lack of transportation, poor sanitation, and lack of affordable housing pose significant barriers to good health and access to health care.  In the zip codes TCC serves, 33.6% have less than a 9^th grade education, compared to 15% in LA County.  Additionally, 25.6% of the population have completed some schooling between 9^th and 12^th grade, but have not received their high school diploma, compared to 16% in LA County.  According to the LA County Department of Health Services over 64,000 adults and 14,000 children are uninsured in the Long Beach community.  

The vast majority of patients seen at The Children’s Clinic are between 1 and 12 years of age, although the Clinic has expanded services to include a Teen Clinic and an Adult Clinic to ensure that the entire family is cared for. The Children’s Clinic not only handles the most complex cases in the community, but the most culturally isolated and linguistically challenged ones as well. Community involvement, i.e., health fairs and associations allows us to be better prepared to respond to the identified health needs and creates a bond of trust and respect between ourselves and our patients.

What have you accomplished?

Y.G. first heard about The Children’s Clinic while pregnant with her first son.  Ever since bringing him for his first check up, Y.G. was impressed with the caring concern for her child and the efficient manner in which the Clinic is run.  Having many problems as an infant, The Children’s Clinic was able to identify and take care of the issues early on.  At 1 month, doctors at the Clinic noticed that the infant’s head was not developing in the correct shape.  They had Y.G. go to a specialist where a specific helmet was designed for her son’s head so it could develop the normal, round shape.  Then, at 6 months, doctors discovered that a Dermal cyst was developing on the left eyebrow that needed surgery to be removed.  Throughout the process, The Children’s Clinic kept in touch with Y.G. to make sure that her son was getting everything he needed and was healing.  Through each major problem, Y.G. testifies that The Children’s Clinic doctors were efficient in not only noticing these problems, but also giving her son the appropriate care and attention he needs to grow up strong and healthy.  Now, in addition to bringing her son in for his check ups, Y.G., her husband and her sister and her family all come to The Children’s Clinic for their medical needs and services. 

J.K., a local 8 year-old boy, was much more anxious than other normal boys his age.  Affected by recent events, J.K. was afraid a tsunami was going to wash him and his family away.  In addition to this fear of a tsunami, J.K. was frightened of airplanes, despite having never ridden in a plane or with any future plans to fly.  As a result of these anxieties, J.K. was struggling in school and having issues at home.  His parents decided something needed to be done.

After visiting The Children’s Clinic, J.K. was referred to Pacific Clinics, where he was introduced to cognitive-behavioral therapy.  Within three weeks, J.K. had regular therapy at The Children’s Clinic with an on-site psychologist.  After four months of hard work he was able to conclude his mental health services.  No longer feeling anxious and afraid, today J.K. is able to enjoy his youth and freedom from fear.

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