A Place to Become a Healthy Generation

by Carol Kim, Health Net and Calvin Lyons, Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Los Angeles

Good health starts in homes, schools, neighborhoods, and communities. With this starting place, Health Net understands that health care is not only what happens in the doctor’s office, but what happens outside. We look beyond clinic walls to effectively improve individual and community health. We’ve heard the saying “it takes a village” and achieving community health equity is no different. That’s why Health Net has a tradition of partnering with community based organizations like the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Los Angeles (BGCMLA), which serves nearly 3,000 youths in some of Los Angeles County’s highest need population, to identify community health solutions upstream. With trusted partners like BGCMLA, Health Net can work towards creating social and physical environments to support healthy lifestyles.

Poverty impacts nearly half a million children across the County of Los Angeles- one in four children. Nearly 60% of Boys & Girls Club youths are eligible for free or reduced-price school lunch. Food insecurity, along with housing and transportation needs, is a socioeconomic indicator for health care outcomes. To address these social determinants of health, the partnership between Health Net and BCGMLA looks to create a safe place for youths of South Los Angeles and Bell Gardens to thrive and become healthy Angelenos. When the school doors close, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Los Angeles opens its doors for local youths to access nationally recognized programs and activities in three core areas: Academic Success, Good Character and Citizenship, and Healthy Lifestyles. These after-school and summer programs have resulted in Boys & Girls Club members to exercise regularly, to abstain from alcohol and drugs, to get better grades, and to express interest in post-secondary education and STEM careers.

We are jointly committed to removing access barriers for our youths and closing the health inequity for the next generation. Our partnership focuses on capacity building, infrastructure development, and direct services support. Health Net has invested in BGCMLA to purchase vans to transport youths for the Challengers and Bell Gardens Boys and Girls Clubs; to provide scholarships for current and new youths to maintain their club membership; and to build a centralized data system across all BCGMLA clubs. And best of all, our public-private partnership is already having a multiplier effect. To illustrate, Health Net called upon one of its provider partners- St. John’s Well Child and Family Center (SJWCFC), Federally Qualified Health Center serving Central and South Los Angeles- to help re-open and operate a dental clinic at the Challengers Boys & Girls Club. A new door for health access opened, enabling SJWCFC to obtain a readily available dental clinic and now serving patients in the surrounding area and BGCMLA having regained access to much-needed oral health care services for youths.

Together, Health Net and the Boys & Girls Club of Metro Los Angeles are building healthy communities, one person at a time.