After years of planning, North County Health Services is proud to announce that we will be opening a new, state-of-the-art health center in the next year thanks to a grant from the City of Carlsbad’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program.

In September of 2011, the City of Carlsbad informed NCHS that they had unexpected CDBG funds that needed to be expended by April 2012 on property acquisition to serve underserved populations. Because NCHS had been looking to expand the current Carlsbad Health Center for quite some time but were limited by available resources, we eagerly submitted a proposal for funding to purchase a much larger medical office space available for sale. On December 13, 2011 the Carlsbad City Council approved our proposal to purchase a 2,695 square foot facility on Carlsbad Village Drive.

This new building will replace the current Carlsbad Health Center located on Madison Street, allowing for an increase in capacity to serve more patients. In this new location we will be able to add family practice back into the site, allowing us to serve adults in addition to children. The current Carlsbad Health Center

MISSION STATEMENT OF NORTH COUNTY HEALTH SERVICESTo improve the health status of our diverse communities by providing quality healthcare that is comprehensive, affordable and culturally sensitive.

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is 1,250 square feet so this new building is more than double the size of our current site. By doubling the square footage we will be able to bring on an additional provider and staff to double the patient capacity and provide better access to care for our patients. The new building will only be ½ mile from the current facility. Additionally, there is a bus stop in front of the medical plaza, making the new health center extremely accessible by our patients without personal transportation abilities.

In order to meet the City’s matching requirement, NCHS committed to paying for all tenant improvements of the new medical building, which is currently a “shell”. NCHS will create a health center that can accommodate the additional patients and better implement the Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) model of care which has highly successful outcomes. The PCMH model builds on substantial evidence that demonstrates greater emphasis on primary care can result in higher-quality care at a lower

Current 1,250 square foot facility

2012 ResolutionsThe New Year is, of course, a time of resolutions. Not only do I have my own personal resolutions to improve my health this year, but we at North County Health Services have resolutions for

our organization. This year is a time to prepare ourselves for the changes that will come with the implementation of the healthcare reform bill in 2014. As we look into the future, we are anticipating a very different landscape for our patients. Many of our patients today do not have health insurance. In fact only 20% of our adult patients have health insurance. In 2014, many of these patients will be insured through Medi-Cal or receive subsidies to purchase insurance through a newly created health insurance marketplace called the Health Exchange.

This is great news for our patients because with insurance comes choices. We know that many of our patients don’t have a choice today, and Community Health Centers are their only option for primary care. Indeed, we have been the only option for many of our patients for the past 40 years. Starting in 2014, these patients will be able to choose between NCHS and a myriad of other primary care providers. Our number one resolution for 2012 is to continue to improve the systems, infrastructure and customer service skills to be our patients’ number one choice in 2014.

Being the first choice for our patients is not something we take for granted. We believe in constantly improving our

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Location of new health center site

VISIONSOF NORTH COUNTY HEALTH SERVICES

NCHS to Open a New Carlsbad Health Center!

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When Laurie Brebrick relocated to North County from Milwaukee, Wisconsin two years ago, the appeal of working as a Nurse Practitioner for North County Health Services became readily apparent. “In treating patients, the most important aspect

is effective communication in an atmosphere of trust and support. This leads to accurate diagnoses, realistic treatment plans and better outcomes in general.”

Brebrick, a Family Nurse Practitioner, earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. She joined North County Health Services in 2010 and practices at the La Misión Health Center in Oceanside. Brebrick came to North County Health Services because the organization’s

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Spotlight On Our Fund Development Advisory Board: Sharon Clark

Spotlight On Our Staff: Laurie Brebrick, FNP

NCHS is happy to introduce Sharon Clark as the new Chair of the Fund D e v e l o p m e n t Advisory Board (FDAB). Sharon has been a member of the FDAB since last spring and has taken on this new

leadership role with energy and purpose.Clark is the Benefits and Compensation

Manager for Hunter Industries in San Marcos. Hunter Industries has been a consistent supporter of NCHS over the years at the direction of Ann Hunter-Welborn, who was honored at the Gala in October for her commitment to supporting the mission of NCHS. Clark is happy to represent Hunter in this leadership role: “I want to continue the legacy that Ann Hunter-Welborn has begun with this organization.”

While Clark is interested and involved in a number of different causes, she feels especially passionate about working with NCHS. At Hunter, she has seen first-hand the need of workers who cannot afford enough health insurance, or any at all. As a life-long resident of San Diego county, she’s also witnessed the need grow for community health centers and wants to make sure that existing organizations that provide medical services to this population are sustainable. “I’m concerned that because of the state of the economy, services like NCHS will not be in existence without our help,” she explains.

With this goal in mind, Clark says she’s excited to engage the people of North County, to tell the story of NCHS and hopefully get people committed to the mission of providing medical services to the uninsured and underinsured members of the community. Clark says she is most excited to learn more about the operations, programs and people of NCHS herself, so she can better represent the needs of the organization to the community.

Clark brings a unique energy to this work and NCHS is excited to have her on board. “I’m looking to transform fundraising from something that’s daunting for many people to something that’s rewarding and fun!” she says.

While NCHS has many generous local individual and corporate donors, from time to time we receive a donation from out of state. In our communications with these donors, we learn that the positive impact of NCHS’ services are relayed to and appreciated by relatives and friends who might not live in North San Diego County.

One such donor is Donna Sexton, the Director of Employee Benefits for Costco Wholesale in Washington. Donna is a mother and grandmother whose family has benefited from NCHS medical care. In her position at Costco, Donna knows only too well what happens when jobs are lost or when employees can’t afford to cover their families on employer health plans. Donna said, “worrying about my family’s access to medical services weighs heavily on my mind. Knowing that NCHS is there providing such a wide range of care for my grandchild gives me

mission of providing quality, affordable healthcare to all is consistent with her professional philosophy. She is proud to be part of an organization that values prevention and delivers care tailored to the unique needs of the population it serves.

During conversations with friends or family, Brebrick frequently discusses her career with NCHS. She mentions the ability to always learn from the many role models around her: fellow staff members, patients and their families. Through the continual sharing of information, she is reminded that within every person there lies an individual culture and language with a unique set of expectations. Patient encounters reveal humility in the act of trusting, a strength that may have gone unrecognized, courage when disclosing a fear, generosity while sharing a life lesson, and great dignity in acceptance of the inevitable.

peace of mind. I also know that I can pick up the phone and reach someone at NCHS who can provide me with information about additional NCHS resources that I can then share with my family.”

Working for a family supportive organization like Costco, Donna decided to make a generous personal pledge for NCHS and Costco matched that pledge!

Many of our young adult NCHS patients seek medical and dental care from NCHS when they are right out of college, self-employed or working in a service organization that does not provide health insurance. We recently received a gift from Trevor who was a patient at Encinitas Health Center while living in North San Diego County. Trevor moved to NYC and decided to thank NCHS for making health

Donors from Afar—Why and How They Give to NCHS

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Gaurav Sihra, Community Partner and Irma Cota, NCHS President & CEO

cost. The patient experience will be taken into consideration during the planning and development of the interior of the building with a goal of decreasing the level of patient stress during their transition from home to exam room.

NCHS will be launching a capital development campaign to assist with the costs associated with the tenant improvements of the building. Active fundraising is expected to conclude in mid-2013. Once the building is completed, ongoing operations of the new health center will be supported by patient revenues.

For those community and business leaders interested in helping expand our capacity to serve the underinsured and uninsured families in Carlsbad and the surrounding areas, please contact the NCHS Fund Development Department at (760) 736-6710.

—Resolutions continued from Page 1organization. This year we will be working very hard to achieve a new designation of excellence in the healthcare community. This new designation is called the Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH). PCMH designation requires that we redesign our systems to focus on our patients needs, even anticipate their needs before they know that they have them! In addition to PCMH, we are also enhancing our customer service skills organization-wide. Every organization can improve customer service and we know that we can as well.

This year will be a critical one for our future success. I know that with your support and the support of all of our friends we will achieve our 2012 goals!

In Gratitude,

Irma CotaNCHS President & CEO

February 22-Celebrating Our Clinicians at AKT Wealth Advisors, contact Nicole Daniel at (760) 736-8723March 15-NCHS Annual Meeting at the San Marcos Health Center, contact Allison Lynch at (760) 736-8669June 2-Encinitas Rotary Wine Festival at the San Diego Botanic Gardens, contact Dana Withall at (760) 736-6710August 17-Fore for Kids VIII at the Crossings at Carlsbad, contact Allison Lynch at (760) 736-8669

New Look, New ReachThe use of a mobile clinic was instrumental for

the founders of NCHS in providing health care services. Certainly, those founders would not have imagined that, forty years later, the need for a mobile clinic to provide health services would be even greater!

NCHS currently operates a mobile health clinic that provides services to patients who are unable to access care at one of our health centers usually due to lack of transportation. In fact, NCHS started with only a mobile clinic as a way to reach migrant workers in rural Valley Center and Ramona.

Recently, the “mobile,” as it often is referred to, has received a face lift! The new look is meant to appeal to a broader range of patients. The service the mobile clinic provides is no longer limited to just migrant workers. It is often stationed at local health fairs and outreach events where NCHS staff can provide a myriad of screenings to attendees and, most recently and possibly most notably, the mobile clinic has visited area schools.

On November 1, 2011 NCHS implemented The All Star Teeth Program at two elementary

schools in the San Marcos Unified School District; Alvin Dunn Elementary and Joli Ann Leichtag Elementary. Oral health is important to your overall health, but this is especially true for children. The oral health of children is vital to their success in school and good oral healthcare in childhood helps ensure a healthier adulthood. Tooth decay is the most common chronic disease among children in California and kids who have untreated decay are often in pain, cannot concentrate, miss school and get poor grades.

As a part of this program, the NCHS mobile dental unit visits each school one day a week to perform dental screenings on all students, except kindergarteners, that have returned a consent form signed by their parents. During the screening, students will receive a varnish treatment on their teeth and will be sent home with a “report card” on the health of their teeth. Students needing further dental care will be referred to NCHS or their regular dentist and that fact will be documented on their “report card”. This program will be implemented for the remainder of the school year and between both schools, there are approximately 1,180 students that will be invited to participate in this program.

Over the 40-year life of the mobile clinic the exterior has changed, and the NCHS patient base is evolving and the quality and scope of services provided continues to grow. We know that reaching as many people as possible, in many locations, creates a healthy community and supports the healthcare safety net we provide.

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NCHS Receives Award From the San Marcos Community FoundationNorth County Health Services was the recent recipient of a $5,000 award from the San Marcos Community Foundation. The money will allow NCHS to implement a blood pressure cuff loaner program for patients with hypertension where patients will be provided an electric spot monitor blood pressure cuff to monitor their blood pressure at home. NCHS will provide the blood pressure unit to patients while they work to gain control over their elevated blood pressures. Colleen Lukoff, CFRE, the Foundation’s President said, “We always appreciate being invited to support the good work of North County Health Services. We are grateful for the many services you provide on behalf of our community, and are always honored to partner with you to improve the health of our residents. We thought the most recent grant request to provide home blood pressure monitors to patients was incredibly important, and were in total agreement to fully fund this. Thank you for giving us wonderful opportunities to serve San Marcos, and in this case to literally save lives!” This will ultimately help to improve health outcomes in our San Marcos community. Thank you for supporting NCHS in providing the very best care to the community.

GiveBIG San DiegoN C H S

r e c e n t l y participated in a fundraising match initiative hosted by the San Diego F o u n d a t i o n . G i v e B I G San Diego

began at 7:00 a.m. December 14th and concluded at 7:00 p.m. December 15th. During the 36 hour period any donation between $25 and $10,000 was matched in proportion to the Foundation’s matching funds.

The first event of its kind in San Diego, GiveBIG featured 400 participating organizations and NCHS was very excited to be involved! All funds raised for NCHS during GiveBIG benefited the NCHS Connecting Children to a Healthy Future Initiative, which supports the health and development of our pediatric patients.

When the bell rang and the match money was divided, NCHS raised $7831.63 during the 36-hour period. The generosity of 35 donors during a season so busy for us all tells NCHS patients and staff that their community does care!

North County Health ServicesCorporate Offices150 Valpreda RoadSan Marcos, CA 92069www.nchs-health.org

a priority and ensuring that anyone in North County can get access to the care they need. His donation was also matched by his employer!

Another generous donation was received from Manmohan and Tripta Sihra during the holidays. Their son, Gaurav Sihra, is the franchise owner of the SUBWAY® at Grand Avenue and San Marcos Blvd. in San Marcos. When Gaurav was a child, he was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. At one time earlier in his career, Gaurav was without health insurance for over a year and a half. Gaurav knew about the services that NCHS provides to the uninsured and talked to his parents about NCHS. His parents typically make a donation to a non-profit in San Diego at the end of the year. They chose NCHS at Gaurav’s recommendation. After talking with Gaurav, the decision was made to designate their gift for uninsured NCHS patients to help with the costs of diabetic care supplies.

The understanding that these donors have for the uninsured and underinsured is so appreciated by all of us at NCHS. Their kindness is a testament to Americans who care about the uninsured and underinsured across the country!

Laurie is a member of the American Public Health Association. She is fluent in English and Spanish. In her spare time, Laurie enjoys hiking, cooking, reading literature and laughing with friends and family. She is active with several organizations that provide healthcare resources internationally.

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