LA CLINICA 2022 ANNUAL REPORT

Who We Are Now

Welcome to our 2022 Annual Report. Within this year's look back, you'll find a letter from our CEO, our service numbers for 2022, notes from partners, and stories about our year. Thank you to the patients, group participants, and employees who gave their permission to share their stories and photos here. As always, we are grateful for the generous financial support of community members, foundations, and government funders. It's because of this support that La Clinica's progress is possible.

FROM THE CEO

I have an image in my mind. It is La Clinica, 2012. You might not have known us then, a decade ago, so let me share my memory with you.  

  • We had just launched visits in a Mobile Health Center, a vehicle we were thrilled to bring into the community to start serving patients. We were exploring our first community partnerships with it.  
  • We knew whole-person health and well-being included many parts of an individual's life, and we wanted to be part of what really made a difference. 
  • And we saw the tremendous need in our community for substance use and mental health services and wondered what else was ours to do.

So much has happened since. We’ve served thousands of patients in the mobile center we bought with the support of the federal government. We’ve built the idea of health beyond the doctor’s or dentist’s visit into a service that offers broad wellness education to our entire community. We are joining many others as we are addressing the large community need for mental health and substance use care. All of this and much more happens in addition to the care for which we are most known every day at 29 Jackson County locations. 

We couldn't do this work without strong partnerships. We recently catalogued the organizations we work with to provide care in our community. The list includes about 100 nonprofits, governments, and other entities all working together to make Jackson County work, and I’m certain our list does not yet include everyone. We are humbled daily by the collaborative spirit, depth of effort, and impact that result when we’re all working together for change. There’s no better example of partnership than our recent tie with WinterSpring, the longtime grief support service that approached us about integration in 2022. Today it is a thriving part of our group education and support service, The Learning Well. 

This is who we are now, a decade later. We’ve weathered much in that time, including a global pandemic, devastating fires, and a crisis in our community’s workforce. 2022 was the year La Clinica mostly shook off the heaviness of the past several years and began in earnest the work of renewal. We are less naïve, maybe, about what our reality can look like. 

We are still so inspired. 

As I look at 2022 and think about where we’ve come, I’m grateful—grateful to be part of this critical work in our community, grateful for the partnerships that have blossomed and led to better care for many, grateful to the team members I work with who make it happen every day. 

I’m especially grateful for your support, whether you are a community partner, a donor, a team member, or simply someone who knows our story and is along for the ride with us. Thank you. 

Brenda Johnson, RN, MBA
CEO

 

 

Photo of La Clinica CEO Brenda Johnson

Brenda Johnson, CEO

Brenda Johnson, CEO

Our 2022 service numbers

Patients served: 25,954 (of La Clinica's 30,000 patients of record)

Patient visits and other interactions: 206,407

Stories from the year

Care where the people are

La Clinica’s field-based team grew in size and scope in 2022, greatly extending the organization’s reach and its ability to connect Jackson County residents to the care they need. 

Help for our mental health

In 2022, La Clinica served 5,438 community residents in 34,546 mental health interactions at schools and community health centers, an increase of nearly 40% in each category over 2021.

A workforce from the inside out

With $1 million in workforce development funding from the state, La Clinica in 2022 began investing in building its own staff and address the larger shortage of healthcare workers in Southern Oregon.

WinterSpring's grief programs return

A longtime Rogue Valley grief support organization became part of La Clinica in 2022 and strengthened programs including support for groups for children and adults, training for community members, and teams sent into schools where a teacher or student has died. 

New support to change lives

A comprehensive approach to caring for people navigating the path to sobriety and stability is behind work started in 2022 by La Clinica and 17 other area organizations that have come together as the Jackson County Recovery Network.

Partnerships make it work: a few great 2022 friendships

Photo of Kim Oveson

Kim Oveson, Addictions Recovery Center

Kim Oveson, Addictions Recovery Center

The partner: Addictions Recovery Center

The work in 2022: Addictions Recovery Center is a partner at Birch Grove Health Center, a collaboration of agencies in a La Clinica health center that provide primary care and addiction recovery and mental health services. Alongside La Clinica, it is one of 18 community partners in the new Jackson County Recovery Network designed to help people with addiction.

From ARC Peer Services Clinical Director Kim Oveson: The collaborative partnership with La Clinica is critical for our clients and the staff who care for them.  We have worked hard at creating "superhighways" that allow the ARC and La Clinica teams to refer clients/patients into each other's services in a timely manner.  We have spent time getting to know each other and sharing work cultures and specific workflows. We have employees outsourced at La Clinica, and La Clinica has one employee who teaches mindfulness to our clients and another who recently worked with us to become a certified drug and alcohol counselor. All these relationships carve out pathways for our clients/patients to get the best care in the fastest way possible.

Photo of Sommer Wolcott

Sommer Wolcott, OnTrack Rogue Valley

Sommer Wolcott, OnTrack Rogue Valley

The partner: OnTrack Rogue Valley

The work in 2022: OnTrack is a partner at Birch Grove Health Center. Alongside La Clinica, it is one of 18 community partners in the new Jackson County Recovery Network designed to help people with addiction. And in 2022, La Clinica served as a training location for students in an OnTrack program teaching them to be drug and alcohol counselors.  

From OnTrack Executive Director Sommer Wolcott: La Clinica is a valuable partner to OnTrack. We serve many of the same individuals, have shared values and strive to create welcoming, respectful environments for all members of the community. La Clinica has become a key partner in our On-PACE counselor training program. We know that the trainees will be welcomed, receive a thoughtful orientation, and have the opportunity to shadow and learn from La Clinica’s team of professionals. The whole-person care that Birch Grove provides to our community’s most vulnerable residents is a vital model for future substance use counselors to experience. On-PACE trainees consistently state that their placement at La Clinica’s Birch Grove clinic was amazing. They learn, grown, and enjoy the welcoming culture. I know that anyone we place at Birch Grove will be supported, receive excellent feedback, and will have the opportunity to witness person-centered care in action.”

Photo of Lisa Smith

Lisa Smith, OHRA

Lisa Smith, OHRA

The partner: Opportunities for Housing, Resources & Assistance

The work in 2022: In February 2022 La Clinica’s board of directors approved construction of a health center at OHRA’s Resource Center in Ashland. Construction and supply issues have delayed the project but have not dampened enthusiasm for it. The health center is now complete and awaiting opening.

From Director of Program Services Lisa Smith: Our partnership with La Clinica is so important to the guests we serve.  There have been many times that having La Clinica on site has helped a guest receive the immediate medical attention they needed.  No story stands out more than when a distraught grandmother showed up with her adult grandson.  She arrived at OHRA in tears because due to her grandson’s mental health diagnosis and his behaviors, it was no longer safe for him to live with her.  It became clear to our navigator that this young man’s needs were well above what the OHRA shelter could safely offer.  Knowing that the La Clinica mobile unit was on site that day, our navigator walked this young man and his grandmother out to the mobile unit to be seen.  La Clinica worked their magic, and this young man was able to move into an adult foster home within a couple of days.  The grandmother reached back to our navigator saying how thankful she was for our partnership with La Clinica, and how she would be able to rest easy now knowing that her grandson was safe.

Photo of Tiffanie Lambert

Tiffanie Lambert, Phoenix-Talent schools

Tiffanie Lambert, Phoenix-Talent schools

The partner: Phoenix-Talent School District

The work in 2022: La Clinica operates six school health centers in the Phoenix-Talent School District and partnered with the district in 2022 to apply for a $2.7 million behavioral health grant from the federal government, aimed at addressing issues parents identified as the district’s top health need.

From Assistant Superintendent Tiffanie Lambert: Our ability to provide medical and behavioral health services, and benefits eligibility support to our families in the language of their choice has already assisted our families in ways that go far beyond academic performance. Additionally, it’s rare to see a program as impactful as this also accommodate the budgetary limitations of a small school district like ours, but La Clinica has found a way and as a result, our families continue to benefit every day.

Our mission

We serve the people who need us most through exceptional, affordable, and compassionate care, inspiring all those we touch to lead full and healthy lives.

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Support our work

We rely on financial contributions from community members, partners, grants, and foundations to do what we do in the community. Join our supporters today.

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Join our employee team

We’re a different kind of employer, a great place to start, continue, or finish your career or even to get your feet wet for the first time in the working world. See if you're a good fit.

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Meet our board of directors

La Clinica's work is guided by an ambitious, committed, and engaged group of community leaders that includes some of our patients. Learn more.

Thank you for reading. We are grateful for the community support that makes our work possible every year.