Westside Family Health Center (WFHC) has officially kicked off the one-year countdown to its 40th Anniversary of providing superior health care to western Los Angeles County.
“Counting down to 40 years, let’s all raise a glass to Westside Family Health Center,’” Debra A. Farmer, WFHC’s President/Chief Executive Officer, told well-wishers gathered on March 19 at Warszawa Restaurant in Santa Monica for the 40th Anniversary kickoff party.
She also unveiled WFHC’s anniversary tagline: “40 Years of Building a Healthy Community.”
“The Center has played a huge role in the lives of women,” said Farmer, who reminded the audience that WFHC started as a women’s clinic located in a tiny Santa Monica storefront.
Back then, the staff was small and patient charts could fit into a box.
While WFHC and its charts have grown exponentially over the years – in 2012 WFHC saw 9,562 women, men and children in 30,925 visits – the personal touch has never gone away.
“At Westside, we know our clients’ names and their children’s names,” Farmer said. “We know if they are working or not. Our patients know that we will help them achieve optimal health. We work with our patients to meet their healthcare needs. We are their health home. We have played an important role in the health of, not only the Santa Monica community, but all around us. Our clients – 86 percent uninsured and coming from 200 zip codes – come to us because we have never closed our doors to new patients.”
Westside Family Health Center, founded in 1974, is a non-profit community health center providing a wide range of low-cost health care services.
WFHC serves more than 9,500 low-income and uninsured women, men and children, regardless of one’s ability to pay. To learn more about WFHC, visit www.wfhcenter.org.
