More on Pasadena urgent health care center dilemma

I had a story in today's paper on the dilemma the Pasadena city council faces on a proposed urgent health care center. To sum it up, the city is being forced to either choose to put the clinic at a location the council feels lukewarm about, or risk losing a $500,000 grant.

I spoke with Mayor Bogaard today on the subject to get some more detail on the issue: he says the council's concerns have very much to do with community opposition to the Del Mar clinic location. That opposition is something that did not get detailed in the print version of the story (you never know what can get dropped to keep the paper from going too long), but I made sure the longer version is posted on the web.

That has made the council ask staff to look for a different site..... but according to Bogaard, none of the partners (Huntington Hospital, and some other medical entities) want to put the clinic anywhere but the Del Mar site.

The reason? The clinic would be less profitable elsewhere, says Bogaard. The partnership is looking for a location where there a reasonable percentage of insured customers.... a part of Pasadena where more people lack insurance could mean the clinic will not be financially sustainable.

If you put the dots together, that would explain why the partnership wants nothing to do with Northwest Pasadena, a way from the promise of business from well-to-do community members in neighboring Arcadia and San Marino.

Perhaps a line from the partnership's 2006 feasibility study on the sites puts it best:

"The Northwest side of Pasadena is identified as an underserved part of the city, although patients from other parts of the city might not travel to this location for care. This area is not generally considered desirable.