SAN DIEGO, CA – (March 23, 2023) Family Health Centers of San Diego (FHCSD) hosted Congressman Scott Peters (CA-50) at Hillcrest Family Health Center earlier this week. The Congressman toured the clinic and had a discussion with FHCSD’s top physicians and policy experts on how the federal government can support Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC).
“We were honored to have Congressman Peters take time to visit one of our most important clinics and to discuss issues critical to community health centers,” said Dr. Christian Ramers, MD, MPH, FIDSA, AAHIVS, assistant medical director and chief of population health at FHCSD. “It’s important for our elected leaders to see first-hand the quality of care our patients receive and to engage in conversations with organizations like ours in order to ensure that all people, regardless of circumstance, receive quality health care.”
As the largest provider of HIV services in San Diego County, FHCSD centers most of that work around the Hillcrest clinic. Additionally, the clinic is strategically located to serve the LGBTQ community, patients with HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C and similar infectious diseases. The location also serves San Diego’s unhoused population and receives referrals from the surrounding emergency rooms, decreasing the burden on health care facilities in the area.
I was impressed with the quality of the clinic, as well as the quality of care being given to FHCSD patients during my visit. FHCSD’s policy goals and mission align with my belief that every individual should have access to quality health care. It is imperative that Congress support funding for community health centers, and I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues in Washington on this issue.
Rep. PetersThe Hillcrest clinic does outreach to the local community in order to recommend that everyone get tested for HIV and other infectious diseases. Clinicians create prevention and treatment plans for patients, and other clinical staff follow up on a multi-weekly basis to ensure patients are coming in for regular testing, treatment and follow-up care.
“With HIV and AIDS now being diseases that people can live with if they obtain proper treatment, we are able to work towards treatments that are both easy to access, but also often require minimal disruption of patients’ daily lives,” said Dr. Ramers. “We’re also working closely with governmental and non-governmental organizations to eliminate hep C and look forward to a day when it is eradicated. We appreciate Congressman Peters’ attention to our issues and his support of our goals and mission.”
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About Family Health Centers of San Diego
For over 50 years, Family Health Centers of San Diego’s (FHCSD) mission has been to provide caring, affordable, high-quality health care and supportive services to everyone, with a special commitment to uninsured, low-income and medically underserved persons. FHCSD is one of the nation’s ten largest FQHCs, operating 73 sites across San Diego County and providing care to over 227,000 patients each year, of whom 91% are low-income and 29% are uninsured.
