VENICE FAMILY CLINIC TO BUILD ON PAST YEAR’S ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN 2024
Nonprofit Community Health Center Will Continue to Expand Services to Underserved Communities

VENICE, CA – (January 08, 2024) – Venice Family Clinic will be building on a year of growth and accomplishments as it begins to implement its 2024 plans to expand access to comprehensive, high-quality primary health care and services for people in need from the Santa Monica Mountains through the South Bay.

In 2023, for instance, the nonprofit community health center expanded its free healthy food distributions to locations in Inglewood, Carson and Gardena. In February, the Clinic will further expand its healthy food distributions by launching a biweekly free food distribution at its clinic site in Gardena at 742 W. Gardena Blvd., Gardena, CA. Other program expansions are planned for later in the year.

“Venice Family Clinic had a remarkable 2023 thanks to the dedication of our staff, volunteers, partners and donors,” said Venice Family Clinic CEO Dr. Mitesh Popat. “We look forward to being able to accomplish even more in 2024 as we continue to focus on bringing the high quality health care people need to thrive to communities that are currently underserved.”

In 2023, Venice Family Clinic completed the major renovation of its flagship clinic at 604 Rose Avenue in Venice, CA and renamed it the Chuck Lorre Rose Avenue Health and Wellness Center in honor of The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation’s generous support for the remodel. The renovations improved access to the pharmacy and other services and made it possible for staff to integrate services more thoroughly. The revitalization also added a separate pediatric waiting room, dedicated pediatric exam rooms, improved spaces for staff and showers for people experiencing homelessness.

In its ongoing effort to innovate to improve access to care for patients, Venice Family Clinic also launched a new same-day care program at this site, and it plans to expand this program to a South Bay location in 2024. With the same-day care program, patients can get medical care for acute ailments from a nurse practitioner on staff at their medical home instead of having to visit an urgent care or emergency room for treatment.

Venice Family Clinic also expanded health education, resource case management, substance use treatment and behavioral health at several clinic sites in its expansive service area and will continue to expand these programs in 2024.

At the end of last year, Venice Family Clinic celebrated the launch of a new partnership with The Midnight Mission to support families with young children experiencing homelessness in Inglewood. The Clinic built a new Early Head Start center onsite for families residing at HomeLight Family Living, a program of The Midnight Mission. The HomeLight facility is Venice Family Clinic’s third Early Head Start center in the area.

The Clinic’s insurance enrollment staff increased its outreach efforts this past year to ensure that people with Medi-Cal benefits retained their coverage as the federal government rolled back rules that helped people keep their coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic. Venice Family Clinic’s expanded outreach efforts are continuing to support the January 1 expansion that allows adults ages 26 to 49 to enroll in Medi-Cal regardless of their immigration status.

In addition to these services, Venice Family Clinic continued to provide comprehensive health care and other services to more than 45,000 people in need, and it also expanded its street medicine program outreach into the South Bay, providing care to people living in encampments in Gardena and at Bridge of Hope Community Housing in Hawthorne

About Venice Family Clinic

Venice Family Clinic is a nonprofit community health center that is a leader in providing comprehensive, high-quality primary health care to more than 45,000 people in need annually, regardless of their income, insurance or immigration status. The Clinic merged with South Bay Family Health Care in late 2021 and serves an area from the Santa Monica Mountains through the South Bay in Los Angeles County. It has 17 sites located in Venice, Santa Monica, Mar Vista, Inglewood, Culver City, Redondo Beach, Carson, Gardena and Hawthorne, plus three mobile clinics and an expansive street medicine program to reach people experiencing homelessness. The Clinic’s comprehensive care also includes mental health services, dental care, vision services, substance use treatment, prescription medications, domestic violence counseling, HIV services, healthy food distributions, health education, health insurance enrollment, child development services and more. For more information, please visit VeniceFamilyClinic.org and follow on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram.