L.A. Care is proud to announce that our CEO John Baackes has been honored by the Wesley Health Centers JWCH Institute. Baackes received the Community Leadership Award during the 2019 Benefit Dinner & Dance on Saturday, October 19 at the City Club in downtown Los Angeles.
Baackes was recognized for the wide range of community projects in which L.A. Care is engaged. This includes a $20 million five-year commitment to Los Angeles County’s Housing for Health program, which has already helped nearly 300 people experiencing homelessness move into permanent housing. L.A. Care also launched a $31 million initiative to address a serious physician shortage in the County. The initiative, called Elevating the Safety Net, will recruit new physicians into the clinics and practices that serve the county’s vulnerable populations.
L.A. Care is also collaborating with its plan partner Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan in a $146 million commitment to jointly operate 14 Community Resource Centers across the county. The partnership is expanding on existing centers and will allow the health plans to offer enhanced services to members and the wider community around each center. Community Resource Centers offer a safe, fun and inclusive space for visitors to access a variety of health-related classes and personalized services that will ultimately keep them active, healthy and informed.
JWCH, which operates 15 primary care clinics and other specialty facilities, served more than 36,000 patients last year as part of its commitment to serving underserved populations in Los Angeles County. Baackes, as the CEO of the largest publicly-operated health plan in the country, serving more than two million Medi-Cal members, holds the same commitment.