Letter: More on the closure of Coastside Family Medical Clinic

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