Profile: Imperial Beach Health Center

Imperial Beach Health Center949 Pib alm Ave Imperial Beach CA 91933 (619) 429-3733 Fax (619) 429-3826

Visit our new website:  ibclinic.org 

Since Imperial Beach Health Center first opened its doors in 1971, our mission has been to provide high quality medical care for all members of our community. As a community focused health center we are committed to being responsive to the health care needs of our area.

We invite you to join our team and be part of our success. Each employee is hired to make significant contributions to our center. We offer a pleasant working environment while a making a gratifying contribution to the community.

 Company Paid Employee Benefits 

• Health
• Dental
• Life
• Paid malpractice insurance
• Paid Holidays, Sick and Vacation Time

Imperial Beach Health Center

Attention: Human Resources Director

949 Palm Ave

Imperial Beach CA 91932

(619) 429-3826 Fax

(619) 429-3733

ibhr@ibclinic.org

A Brief History of the Imperial Beach Health Center
 

In 1971, as the Vietnam War was raging oversees, a small group of young servicemen and women stationed at the 32nd Street Naval Station, North Island and Balboa Naval Hospital, and who lived in the Imperial Beach area, joined with a group of young counter-culture hippies to bring medical care to the medically underserved in this community. Whether they lived on the streets, at the beach, or in the low income rental properties that were abundant in the early seventies, these young Imperial Beach residents shared a common need: affordable, accessible and non judgmental medical care.

So, while some communities launched anti-war protest rallies and ostracized those in military uniform, the residents of Imperial Beach, both left-leaning hippies and conservative military officers, joined together to help their neighbors receive the medical care they desperately needed.

The staff in those early years were all volunteers. The providers were military officers, moonlighting one or two nights a week. The medical supplies and equipment were donated, and, when possible, obtained from the local military bases. And the name given to this noble venture was IBPFC or the "Imperial Beach Peoples' Free Clinic." There were no uniforms or white lab coats in those early years. The dress of choice was thongs and shorts. The treatment was provided in an old converted school house at 154 Palm Ave. And to pay for their care, the patients were asked to put whatever they could in the donation box at the front counter. And if patients didn't return for their follow-up treatment, the staff were known to search the beaches, medications in hand, until they found their recalcitrant patients.

Then in 1975, the Clinic was able to secure it's first grant, from San Diego County's Revenue Sharing grants from the Federal Government. In order to further strengthen the Clinic's financial base, the staff began to bill Medi-Cal and other health insurance companies on those patients who had Medi-Cal or insurance. This also prompted these counter-culture staff members to obtain a license from the State of California to operate the Clinic as a licensed, non-profit 501 C-3 Community Clinic. This, in turn, enabled the Clinic to apply for large Family Planning grants from both the state and federal government. These seemed especially important because so much of the patient base was composed of young women and their small children. To address the needs of these young children, the Clinic became certified to provide well-child check-ups and immunizations on low income children.

Through the late 70's and 80's, the Clinic continued to grow and expand its programs. More grants were obtained. Hours of operation became regular. A Medical Director was brought on board and the volunteer staff were slowly replaced with paid employees. Agreements were made with both UCSD Medical Center and Mercy Hospital to provide physicians and professional staff to begin both pediatric and prenatal programs at the Clinic. The Clinic was now able to provide the full scope of primary care services. This soon led to a realization that the Clinic needed more space.

So in the early 90's, the Clinic relocated to a new and expanded leased space in a small shopping mall, the Silver Strand Plaza, at 600 Palm Ave. The Clinic programs continued to grow. No longer would the Clinic need to rely on an ever changing group of medical residents and intems from San Diego's two large teaching hospitals. The Clinic was now able to employ its own medical staff of board certified internal medicine, family practice and pediatric physicians and mid level practitioners. The next challenge was to enter into agreements with the HMO's in town who were slowly taking over the Medi-Cal business.

The 90's saw steady growth in these HMO contracts. With these came the need for Clinic staff to manage their patients' total care needs. Relationships developed, and eventually provider contracts were negotiated with over thirty specialty providers throughout the South Bay. And the number of managed care contracts grew to fifteen. The clinic's managed care enrollment expanded to over 2,000 lives. These patients have grown to represent nearly a third of the Clinic's total patient visits. During the 90's the Clinic also saw an unprecedented increase in the severity of illnesses in its patient population. No longer were the patients composed primarily of young children and women of child bearing age. The Clinic's patient population has changed overtime to become much more heavily weighted with adults having serious, chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure. And even the pediatric program has seen an ever growing number of children with asthma and other serious medical conditions.