John Pavoni, a resident of Clearlake Oaks and Chair of the Board of Directors of Mendocino Community Health Clinic, Inc., the local nonprofit that operates Lakeside Health Center, says, "When compared with other California counties, the health of Lake County residents is still not good. Even when you factor in all the healthcare provided in our county, there are still a large number of people—many of them children—who are not getting the kind of regular health services that are the cornerstone of healthy communities. Our recent grant awards will significantly improve Lakeside’s ability to offer care to those who need it."

The HRSA grant will fund the salaries of three new medical providers and provide the foundation for a farm worker health outreach program. Addressing the significant barrier of transportation, HRSA fund have been used to purchase of a patient transport van. The grant has also funds earmarked to expand Lakeside’s psychotherapy department, and ground is being broken to begin construction of a new building to house the program. The Delta Dental grant assisted Lakeside in its hiring of Duc Minh Tran, DDS. Dr. Tran began seeing Lakeside patients last November.

Catherine Rada, MCHC’s Vice President of Resource Acquisition and an active participant in Lake County’s Health Leadership Network, wrote both grant applications. She says, "These funds are crucial to those Lake County residents who cannot find the health care they require. In late 2005, when the expansion is finally complete, staff at Lakeside will be providing comprehensive primary health care to over 7,500 patients a year, and this is going to have a significant and positive impact for Lake County."

Lakeside Health Center is located at 5335 Lakeshore Blvd. For more information about the comprehensive health services available at Lakeside Health Center, please call Center Manager Bev Sloan-Cole at 263-7725.