UPDATE: The City Council voted 5-0 to approve the proposal.
The Anaheim City Council tonight will consider a proposal to lease a portion of Ponderoa Park for a $1 a year to St. Jude Neighborhood Health Centers, which would build a 5,000 square-foot community health clinic.
The clinic would be sited on a part of Ponderosa Park – on Orangewood Avenue and across Mountain View from the new family resource center – that is not being used as park space.
If approved, the clinic would be completed by the end of 2020 and provide health services for low-income, uninsured and underinsured Anaheim residents. Ponderosa Park is in District 4.
The clinic would be open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday and will see an estimated 65 patients a day. It will be staffed by a physician, a nurse practitioner, a licensed clinical social worker, two dentists, a registered nurse and a once-a-month podiatrist.
Types of treatments provided will include:
- Preventive health care services (immunizations, well child checks, pregnancy tests, mammogram referrals, colorectal cancer screening, blood glucose checks, etc)
- Dental care services for adults and children, including annual check-ups and dental restorative care like fillings, extractions and root canals).
- Sick visits for adults and children
- General family practie medicine
- Prenatal care
- Nurse visits
- Mental health screenings and counseling.
The lease would be for 20-years, with the option to one 10-year and two 5-year extensions. The clinic building would become city property when the lease runs out.
The city recently completed a multi-million rehabilitation of the 9.1 acre community park. A new Family Resource Center and gymnasium replaced an outdated facility in 2017. By summer of 2018, a new softball field with a soccer overlay, skate park, splash pad, play area, picnic shelter and community garden were also added.
I adore St. Judes, but this is Access Cal all over again parks are for playgrounds!
… There are not enough parks here as it is, you are not allowed to GIVE away our park spaces for free to any organization.
Well said West Anaheim. We need our park spaces to be open recreational spaces for our residents. They should be used for what they were designated for and not for services. We have plenty of buildings/areas in Anaheim that can house preventative health care services. They do not belong in a park that has been designated for recreational use for ALL residents. Good cause wrong location.
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