We are saddened by the closure of Coastside Family Medical Center. We understand the unique role it served in, and its value to, the community; which is why we have been working to help.

As part of this, San Mateo County – and by that we mean all San Mateo County taxpayers – have paid the monthly $23,450 rent for the Coastside Family Medical Center since last August. That amounts to well over $150,000 in taxpayer assistance.

We have worked closely with Coastside Family Medical Center to help them develop a successful financial strategy to overcome their budget shortfalls. Within the last month, Coastside presented us with a proposal that asked for an additional $300,000 in taxpayer funds – in addition to the monthly rent payments. We could not in good conscience risk $300,000 of taxpayer funds based on the business plan presented. [emphasis added]

We offered to continue to work with Coastside and other health-care providers to develop alternatives, expecting that Coastside would remain open through the end of this month. We had hoped to come to an agreement in that time frame and also have some time for transition planning if CFMC was not able to keep its doors open.

Coastside Family Medical Center Board members worked hard to find answers, but last week reached the difficult decision to close. Coastside closed the facility quite suddenly on Friday, March 13.

What’s important now is to ensure the privacy and accessibility of personal medical records. On Thursday and Friday from 10 to 2, representatives of the Health Plan of San Mateo will be on site to answer questions for their patients. The Health Plan of San Mateo is a County organized health system that provides health care benefits to San Mateo County’s underserved residents.

We recommend that Coastside patients represented by other insurers contact the appropriate insurer. Meanwhile, we are working closely with private health care providers to develop options for former Coastside patients. We are proud that community physicians have responded to the advocacy and outreach of the Health Plan of San Mateo during the past three days; as of today, community physicians have volunteered to accept more than half of the low-income, publicly covered clients as patients.

Please be assured the County of San Mateo will continue to work with our community partners to explore a sustainable health care delivery system. HPSM members can contact the Health Plan of San Mateo with any questions at 1-800-750-4776.

Contact:
Marshall Wilson
Public Communications Manager
(650) 363-4153
[email protected]

UPDATE: Patients are reporting that the CFMC is not making copies of medical records today, or perhaps this week.

Former patients may retrieve your records from the Coastside Family Medical clinic through the following process

1. Contact the clinic.

• Call 650-712-2311 or 2324 leave a message with your full name, date of birth and return phone number.
• Email your request to [email protected] Please include your full name, date of birth and phone number.
• Stop by by the clinic and fill out a request for release of information (copies of the release are posted at the front door of the clinic).

2. Allow 2 to 3 days for your chart to be retrieved.

3. Pick up your records.  Patients must bring a valid form of identification to pick up records. CFMC will be open for record requests and pickup:

• March 18 to 20, 10:00am to 2:00pm.
• March 23 to 27, 10:00am to 1:00pm.

The Coastside Film Society hosts a silent film festival as it should be be shown: with live music. Featured: Truly classical films the whole family can enjoy with live musical accompaniment by pianist Shauna Pickett-Gordon

SHERLOCK, JR.  (1924, 44 mins.)

Buster Keaton stars and directs in a film that showcases Keaton’s amazing physical comedy, captivating personality, and innovative use of visual effects. Keaton plays Sherlock Jr., a daydreaming movie projectionist in love with an unattainable woman. While napping on the job, Sherlock dreamwalks into a surrealistic fantasy world, where he successfully battles dastardly villains and wins the heart of his girl.

"A mixture of wild slapstick physical comedy and more subtly crafted moments of humor. "No other silent film turns logic on its head with such grace and comic hilarity" Sean Axmaker, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

THE KID (68 mins)

"Charlie Chaplin’s study of a tramp teaming up with a street kid (the cute little Jackie Coogan) has a fine line to tread between humor and pathos, and true to what you would expect of Chaplin’s best work, does it superbly. The tramp always manages to wring the hearts of his viewers. Adding a little boy to the mix was the finishing touch." Internet Movie Database

Friday March. 20, 2009 at 7:30 pm        
$6.00 adults,  $3.00 for children and students
Community United Methodist Church Sanctuary
777 Miramontes Half Moon Bay

For more info see www.hmbfilm.org

Carol Welsman (piano/vocals), Pat Kelley (guitar), Rene Camacho (bass), Jimmy Branly (drums).
 
Drummer Eddie Marshall is a leading figure in the evolution of San Francisco’s contemporary jazz sound.  According to Pete Douglas, "His finesse and artistry are what propel and define the art of the music."  Eddie’s enthusiasm for Israeli saxophonist Naaman is to be respected.   
  
Sunday from 4:30 to 7:00 with intermission.
Doors open at 3 pm for buying tickets and claiming seats. 
Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society
Douglas Beach House on Miramar Beach
307 Mirada Road, Half Moon Bay
650 726-4143

The Quick List is a guide for anyone interested in the elements of local government [pdf] in California: a compilation of laws, Web sites and other information about cities and counties.

The Quick List is compiled by staff members of the Senate Local Government Committee under its longtime chief consultant, Peter Detwiler. It covers everything from "A"—AB8, the law that divvies up property taxes among local governments and schools—to "Z," everything you wanted to know about land zoning.

Thanks to the Sacramento Bee for the tip.

The Board of Supervisors today unveiled the new logo and declared March 17 as "San Mateo County: As Fresh as it Gets" Day.

"As Fresh as it Gets" is a cooperative effort by the farming, fishing and hospitality industries and County government to support and encourage consumption of local products. The "As Fresh as it Gets" logo is the latest effort to highlight San Mateo County’s fresh, fruits, vegetables, fish, crab and locally produced cheese, wine and microbrews. 

Rising sea levels are a major threat to California, according to a state-funded report from the Pacific Institute, an environmental think tank. And San Mateo County could be particularly hard-hit—on the Bayside as well as the Coastside.

But some of the aesthetic beauty and recreational values associated with the California shore, one of the state’s prime natural assets, are at risk, including the famed central coastal cliffs of Big Sur. In all, 41 square miles (66 km) of coast will be lost to erosion, according to the study.

"Changes to California coasts are inevitable," Cooley said. "We need to evaluate and assess what our values are and which qualities of the coast we want to maintain."

Flood damage envisioned by the study would result from storm surges occurring with greater frequency and intensity in low-lying areas once a safe distance from the shore. Areas that already lie within an existing coastal flood plain would face even greater risk.

About 260,000 people live in flood-prone areas around San Francisco Bay and other low-lying coastal communities up and down the state. That number would grow to 480,000 if sea levels were to rise 1.4 meters (1.4 yards) without any mitigating actions being taken, the report found.

However, most of the low-lying development is on the Bayside. There are more maps on the Institute’s website.

The LA TImes writes: "The group floated several radical proposals: limit coastal development in areas at risk from sea rise; consider phased abandonment of certain areas; halt federally subsidized insurance for property likely to be inundated; and require coastal structures to be built to adapt to climate change."

From Julia McKeon, Director

   

"Sonrisas Community Dental Clinic" sonrisas@coastside.net 3/15/2009 3:48 PM >>>

Dear CHC Members,

I hope everyone has heard that Coastside Family Medical Center closed its doors on Friday. There is an article about it on the HMB Review website with some details (click on the headline for more detail) . A few of us met on Saturday morning with Barb Neilsen, the head nurse at CFMC, to determine if there were any steps that could be taken right away to help the situation. CFMC administrators are working this weekend trying to work out details of the transition but we do know that the CFMC Medical Director will be available next week a few hours a day to help with refills. Patients should go to their pharmacy with refill requests and let the pharmacy contact the clinic. No one will be answering the main clinic number. There are authorization forms available on the front door of the clinic to fill out to transfer your records. CFMC patients through Mills Peninsula IPA received a letter yesterday in the mail notifying them of the change and giving them information on what to do.

The county has been contacted and a couple of plans are in the works. When I spoke with Brian Zamora on Friday, he thought that it would take at least a week before the county would be ready to meet with us and discuss more definitive action. RotaCare is also preparing for a big increase in patients next week. Meanwhile we want to keep communication flowing as we learn more from CFMC. So it has been proposed that we have a meeting later in the week for updates if we have any news. So I will keep you posted on that.

The following week we should prepare for a meeting with the county. The main thing is that we have to work together to make the best of this situation so let’s keep in touch.  If there is a better email address for you or someone else should be added, please let me know so we can all stay in the loop.

Julia

Julia McKeon

Executive Director

Posted by Katharine Weber.

This from Barb Neilson, who worked at the clinic for several years:

Dear Friends,

I suspect that some of you have heard but I wanted to share with you this very sad and upsetting news myself. Coastside Family Medical Center closed it’s doors at noon today permanently and will be filing for bankruptcy.

It was a shock to the staff as they only received the news this morning. The administration did everything in their power to make this work but the combination of the economy, increased county patients, insurances slow payments made it impossible for us to purchase things that we needed to give quality healthcare.They have been in many meetings with the County and Mills Peninsula but to no avail.They were only told last night themselves that we were to close today.

My concern is for the staff ,needless to say as there are 35 unemployed individuals many of whom are the breadwinners for their families. Please let me know if you have any insight on jobs for some fantastic medical assistants,financial and front desk staff.

I am also VERY concerned for the patients especially those who have no transportation, the elderly and the many patients who consider us their friends. People will have access to their medical records and signs have been posted at the clinic with contact info. We are still addressing the issue of medication refills and followup of labs and other tests. Again we were given virtually no notice to but a plan together.

Please feel free to share this info as it will be a huge impact on our community

Thanks,

barb