LOS ANGELES – The COVID-19 pandemic set off a wave of people leaving their health industry jobs that hit community clinics and health centers especially hard. A Pew Research Center survey found a variety of reasons for the Great Resignation, including low pay, little opportunity for advancement, and burnout. This was especially true for community clinics and health centers, where the workers also had the added risk of exposure to COVID-19. Through its Robert E. Tranquada Safety Net Initiative (Tranquada XIII), L.A. Care Health Plan is awarding $2.7 million in grants to help 18 clinics in L.A. County retain and create advancement opportunities for frontline workers and to help them engage new workers to ensure quality health care for L.A. Care members and other community members served by community health clinics.
“Each clinic will receive up to $150,000 to help them fight pandemic-related staff burnout by recruiting new assistant social workers, phlebotomists, and other front-line workers,” said John Baackes, L.A. Care CEO. “The clinics will be able to boost salaries and provide incentives to keep loyal workers and to attract new workers with things like tuition reimbursement, professional development opportunities and bonuses.”
Via Care Community Health Center is one of the 18 grantees.
“We are absolutely thrilled to be awarded the Robert Tranquada Safety Net Initiative funding,” said Deborah Villar, Via Care CEO. “Our teams have been working tirelessly through the pandemic and will be excited to know that we will now have the ability to recruit the additional help we need.”
L.A. Care launched the Tranquada Initiative in 2005 to help safety net providers improve their core infrastructure capabilities and to support projects that have a long-term and systemic impact. It was named after Dr. Robert E. Tranquada, founding board member of L.A. Care. Dr. Tranquada has dedicated his life to public health. He served as the Medical Director of L.A. County + USC Medical Center and was later the Dean of Medicine at USC.
The awardees in this 13th round of Tranquada Initiative grants are:
AltaMed Health Services Corporation
Asian Pacific Health Care Venture
Chinatown Service Center
Comprehensive Community Health Center, Inc.
East Valley Community Health Center
Garfield Health Center
Harbor Community Health Centers
Health Access for All (dba Angeles Community Health Center)
JWCH Institute Inc.
Kheir Clinic
Los Angeles Christian Health Center
ParkTree Community Health Center
St. Anthony Medical Centers
St. John’s Well Child & Family Center (dba St. John’s Community Health)
The Achievable Foundation
Universal Community Health Center
Via Care Community Health Center