Medical Care Orange County

In what advocates for the poor say is a victory for indigent health care in Orange County, UC Irvine has ended talks with a private hospital chain to run the financially ailing UCI Medical Center, officials said Wednesday. UC Irvine Chancellor Laurel L. Wilkening and medical center Director Mark Laret told the UC Board of Regents that UCI and Tenet Healthcare Corp. mutually agreed to end discussions on a long-term lease for the Orange facility.

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved major changes in medical services for indigents in a way that local doctors and hospitals hope will improve care while relieving pressure on emergency rooms. The plan, under development for several years, is designed to enhance primary and preventive care for the nearly 28,000 people in the county's indigent health program.

The county Health Care Agency vowed Thursday to investigate and prepare a formal response to a highly critical Juvenile Justice Commission report that raised doubts about the way its doctors medicated young patients at the Orangewood Children's Home. Ronald DiLuigi, assistant director of the agency, said the response will review the finding and recommendations in the commission report and should be sent to county supervisors and other interested parties by the end of the month.

A plan to boost the number of patients at UCI Medical Center--and derail the teaching hospital's controversial proposal to merge with a private health care chain--has been quietly added to the proposed state budget in Sacramento. Not only would the budget proposal stall the university's negotiations with the nation's two largest hospital chains, it also would require changes in how Orange County's Medi-Cal HMO program operates and would mean that other local hospitals would lose patients to UCI.

The Board of Supervisors this week directed county officials to identify preventive health-care and social-services programs that might receive more money in next fiscal year's budget. Board Chairman William G. Steiner proposed the action, saying the county needs to refocus priorities on programs that prevent larger social ills and "get the greatest return on our expenditures."

The Board of Supervisors today will consider a proposal by Chairman William G. Steiner tobolster preventive health care, social services and other community activities. Steiner is asking that the board direct county officials to consider funding increases in fiscal 1997-98 for programs that have been proven to prevent more serious--and costly--health and social problems.

Years of toil have broken many a farm worker like Genaro Saucedo, whose body looks older than its 78 years. A field hand since 1954, Saucedo walks in a crouch. His eyes sag. Too weary to work the fields, he now earns his keep by cleaning bathrooms in the labor camp where he lives. "I am dying," he sighs. Under an ambitious program unfolding along Orange County's rural edges, the sick and the weary among the farm workers, people like Genaro Saucedo, are receiving some sorely needed care.

Thousands of schoolchildren in Orange County have eye exams each year, and those who need glasses but cannot afford them get spectacles through a number of school programs. Getting the kids to wear them, however, is another story. To help remedy that, a volunteer organization is taking free vision-screening a step further.

Years of toil have broken many a farm worker like Genaro Saucedo, whose body looks older than its 78 years. A field hand since 1954, Saucedo walks in a crouch. His eyes barely flicker. And still he tries to work. "I am dying," he sighs. Under an ambitious program unfolding along Orange County's rural edges, the sick and the weary among the farm workers, people like Genaro Saucedo, are receiving some sorely needed care.

Seeking to help "the most vulnerable of our citizens," the chairman of the Board of Supervisors urged county leaders Tuesday to increase funding for preventive health-care programs, social services and other community activities. William G. Steiner's proposal, made during his State of the County Address, does not rely on new taxes or fees but rather asks county departments to look inside their budgets and allocate more money to programs proven to prevent greater social ills.