PPLA Annual Report 2019-2020

No Matter What

Dear Friends:

This past year has been a challenging one. I am writing to you as we are experiencing an unprecedented surge of COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles County and across the nation, amplified by the twin pandemic of systemic racism. Rates of COVID-19 are disproportionately impacting Brown and Black communities.

At Planned Parenthood Los Angeles (PPLA), our mission is unwavering. We are here to provide medically-accurate information and education and high-quality care — no matter what. I am incredibly grateful to each of you and to each of my colleagues who has persisted throughout this year. Your generosity of spirit and commitment to the well-being of the Los Angeles community is unparalleled.

For more than 100 years, Planned Parenthood has faced adversity and kept moving forward. That history serves us well today. As COVID-19 challenges us to pivot to meet each consecutive obstacle and unknown, we have succeeded in continuing to care for patients, support and educate parents and teens, advocate for access to reproductive health care, and honor our role as trusted and essential providers who are here for the communities we serve each and every day. Your compassion and support makes this possible. In the early days of the pandemic, when we communicated PPLA’s COVID-19 -related plans and needs through virtual meetings, calls, and emails, you asked how you could help. Thanks to your generosity,

our health center teams, doctors, clinicians, and nurses had the personal protective equipment (PPE) needed to provide care safely. Our Education and Outreach teams had the equipment and connectivity needed to pivot classes and trainings to a virtual model. And when our Operations Departments implemented enhanced cleaning procedures, upgraded HVAC systems, transitioned to a mostly-remote administrative workforce, enhanced and shifted our security systems and protocols, and rearranged layouts to make social distancing possible, we had the resources needed to succeed — because of you.

We will make it through this together. As we always do. But just making it through is not enough. Throughout this challenging year, we also have been preparing for the future, knowing that as rates of COVID-19 eventually ease and vaccines become more readily available, the Los Angeles community will need to rebuild.

Some of the work we have been doing to plan ahead includes the following:

• Building and licensing 27 Wellbeing Center clinics on LA Unified School District (LAUSD) campuses which will be ready for students when high schools reopen for in-person classes.

• Expanding the scope of our work to include behavioral health for adolescents and adults.

• Supporting UCLA Law School in launching focused reproductive justice work with the firstever Sears Clinical Law Teaching Fellowship on Sexual and Reproductive Health, Law and Policy.

• Launching an all-staff program to elevate our ongoing work on justice, equity, diversity, and

At Planned Parenthood Los Angeles (PPLA), our mission is unwavering. We are here to provide medically-accurate information and education and high-quality care — no matter what.

inclusion with the intent of being even better advocates for the health and well-being of all, including each other.

• Building on the experience of our successful partnership with Cedars-Sinai to elevate our OB/GYN care and working with Children’s Hospital Los Angeles to strengthen our work in adolescent medicine, including forging greater connections between our sex education curricula, reproductive health care, and behavioral health.

The following pages provide more in-depth information about some of the programs mentioned above. I hope that as you read through the report, you see your values and commitment to care for all reflected. The wonderful employees of PPLA have persevered in providing care, support, and education no matter what, including through the unknowns and fear that characterized the first weeks and months of COVID-19 in Los Angeles. Thank you for standing with PPLA so we can continue to be here for the communities that need us most during the most difficult moments and beyond.

Board of Directors 2020-2021

CHAIR

Donna L. Schweers

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Rupa Balasubramanian

Cornelia B. Daly, MD

Renée Delphin-Rodriguez, JD

The Hon. Sydney Kamlager

The Hon. Abbe Land

Arthur J. Ochoa, JD

Carolyn Strauss

Martha P. Swiller

Catherine L. Unger

Paul C. Williams

Senior Management

Sue Dunlap, PRESIDENT AND CEO

Katie Amira, JD

Russell A. Belinsky

Laura Unger Dudley

Kristi Henderson

Luis López

Yvette Martinez

Amarita Natt, PhD

Marcia Bergren Pine, JD

Sheryl A. Ross, MD

Jason D. Russell, Esq.

Debra Spector

Amelia Warren Tyagi

Rick Chavez Zbur, JD

Susan Bradley, MBA, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Danny Chen, SENIOR DIRECTOR, FACILITIES

Brenda Guerrero, LVN, SENIOR DIRECTOR, HEALTH CENTER OPERATIONS

Stephen Laughlin, SENIOR DIRECTOR, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Andrea Leti, MEng, VICE PRESIDENT, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Kevin Oliver, JD, CHIEF LEGAL COUNSEL

Linda Pahl, MBA, CMA, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

Nicole Ressa, VICE PRESIDENT, EDUCATION

Rachel Rodriguez, SHRM-CP, VICE PRESIDENT, HUMAN RESOURCES

With much love,

Sue Dunlap President & CEO

Jacki Schechner, VICE PRESIDENT, COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING

Ilene Silberman, CPA, VICE PRESIDENT, FINANCE

David Speiser, MD, FACOG, FACS, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER

Margot Taylor, VICE PRESIDENT, STRATEGY & ADVOCACY

Remelyn Valera MSN, FNP-C, SENIOR DIRECTOR, CLINICAL OPERATIONS

Celinda Vázquez, CHIEF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS OFFICER

Bess Walkes, VICE PRESIDENT, DEVELOPMENT

Care

When COVID-19 emerged earlier this year, we knew we had to continue to be here for our patients, no matter what. That meant staying open and reassuring patients that we knew their essential reproductive and sexual health care needs could not wait. We sourced personal protective equipment (PPE), implemented enhanced cleaning protocol specific to preventing the spread of coronavirus, created a Rapid Response team to respond to keep our workforce healthy and safe, and provided additional financial assistance for employees in our health centers who put patient care first while much of the nation was following instructions to stay home. At the same time, we launched a Telehealth program.

We also saw women from across the country booking appointments and making plans to travel, even at the height of the first COVID-19 wave, because they lived in places that were restricting abortion care. For instance, CNN.com documented the experience of one young woman who flew from Texas to Los Angeles on an almostempty plane because elected officials in Texas did not consider abortion time-sensitive or essential. Our providers made sure we were here to care for this young woman and many like her.

Even as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, we are moving ahead with plans to grow. We are piloting a behavioral health program for adults that — with the help of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles — will expand to serve adolescents.

We also are expanding our footprint throughout Los Angeles County. We have opened new health centers in Compton and Carson, and our new Huntington Park health center is under construction and will be opening in 2021. Our community partnerships continue to grow too. In collaboration with Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, we will be offering PrEP and PEP for adolescents, behavioral health, and a higher level of transgender care. In addition, our ongoing partnership with Cedars-Sinai soon will include infertility diagnosis and treatment as well as increased continuity of care for pregnancy that extends through labor and delivery.

I was always afraid to go to a doctor about sex education, birth control, and so forth. I love Planned Parenthood because they are so professional, responsible, and — most importantly — caring.

—PPLA PATIENT

Planned Parenthood is so important. They don’t judge people that don’t have any insurance or any money. They are kind and caring. They have always helped me when I have had nowhere else to go. I think that it is so important that women are empowered through healthcare. Planned Parenthood is amazing.

—PPLA PATIENT

Health Services Summary

Even during a global pandemic, PPLA has stayed the course. Not only have their doors remained open and their education and outreach programs continued to provide for communities throughout LA County, but they also keep looking ahead to what we will need once COVID-19 subsides. Their expansion into behavioral health services could not come at a better time.

—LA COUNTY SUPERVISOR HOLLY J. MITCHELL

Health Services by Patient Ethnicity

by

Planned Parenthood has helped me with making more responsible choices and adult decisions. They have helped me with birth control, questions about STDs, counseling, and STD testing. Planned Parenthood makes it possible for people like myself to stay healthy and protected.

322,112 CALLS ANSWERED

244,775 PATIENT VISITS

88% PATIENTS LIVING AT OR BELOW THE FEDERAL POVERTY LINE*

*Federal Poverty Line for a household of four is an annual income of $26,000.

I love these meetings. I am truly able to express my feelings, and I know I won’t be judged. During this time, it is hard to find spaces like this. I love this program with my whole heart. It is foundational to who I am now. I appreciate you and the entire PPLA team. That is why I worked hard to recruit my friends to become part of this program.

—HOLLYWOOD HIGH SCHOOL PEER ADVOCATE

Left to right: LAUSD School Board Member Mónica García, LA County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Debra Duardo, PPLA President and CEO Sue Dunlap, LA County Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer, LA County Supervisor Hilda L. Solis (Pre-Covid image)

PPLA’s Promotoras together prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Education

As part of an unprecedented initiative led by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LADPH), in partnership the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH), LAUSD, and the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE), PPLA opened nine clinics in Wellbeing Centers (WBCs) on high school campuses across LA County before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The WBC clinics allow students who, otherwise, may not have access to essential reproductive health care and information to get the care they need without having to leave campus or skip class. Even as schools remain closed, PPLA has continued building out clinics and will have 27 fully licensed and ready to serve students when LAUSD high schools reopen for in-person classes.

In the meantime, PPLA’s education team shifted its programs to work online and by telephone. Peer Advocates continue to meet virtually, allowing students to feel connected to each other even though they cannot be together in person. Promotoras, community-based educators, now do outreach to parents by making calls, a transformation La Opinión featured in June. They discuss topics such as stress management, values and sexuality, substance use prevention, and diverse families.

7,889 YOUTH REACHED BY PEER ADVOCATES

2,756 MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS THAT RECEIVED SEX EDUCATION

503 YOUTH-SERVING PROFESSIONALS TRAINED

29,408 ADULTS REACHED BY PROMOTORAS

Parents struggling to stay healthy and provide for their families while also tending to children home from school have found a safe space with PPLA’s Promotoras in new ways too as Promotoras are sharing information with parents on community food banks, utility support, tenant rights, and other relevant concerns.

PPLA’s dedicated Teen Call Line (TCL), launched November 2019, has seen considerable growth each month. Staffed with Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSWs) and mental health therapists, the Teen Call Line is available for teens to ask questions on a wide range of topics, including anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues; substance use; sexual and reproductive health; general stress; and relationships. The LCSWs can provide resources for counseling and/ or substance abuse.

Looking ahead, PPLA’s education team is working on incorporating behavioral health into service offerings to teens as well as launching an education and outreach program specific to Black communities — similar to how Promotoras prioritize Latinx communities — and informed by PPLA’s evolving justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion work.

Advocacy

In recent years, PPLA’s mission to provide affordable access to a comprehensive range of high-quality reproductive health care and sexual health information has proven to be a critical lifeline for the women, men, and teens we serve in an ever-changing world facing abortion bans and concerns about the Supreme Court and the future of Roe v. Wade

Each year, we have to fight to protect access to reproductive health in the state budget, but this year, COVID-19 made our work even more challenging as we faced California officials desperate to find ways to offset unexpected pandemic-related expenditures. And when the first wave of rising COVID-19 cases triggered “Stay at Home” orders, we advocated to make sure our health center teams could continue to deliver safe, time-sensitive services to patients whose needs simply could not wait. We knew we had to keep our doors open and provide uninterrupted care to the communities that need us most because that is what we mean when we promise care, no matter what.

As COVID-19 continues to spread, disproportionately impacting communities of color, we are witnessing how social determinants of health and systemic racism are dire public health crises. We cannot truly care for the communities we serve without advocating for a system that elevates justice, education, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI). It is against this backdrop that we continue to evolve our own JEDI work, acknowledging our need to do our part to eradicate systemic inequalities and practice working across and within difference.

At the same time, we also are facing a potential threat to reproductive freedom for all women. This past summer, in June Medical Services v. Russo, the Supreme Court of the United States — by a 5-4 vote — struck down a Louisiana state law requiring doctors to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. However, Chief Justice John Roberts, who cast the deciding vote, has signaled he would be open to upholding restrictions on abortion rights in future cases. The vulnerability of Roe never has been more present than now with the Trump Administration issuing lifetime appointments to more than 200 federal judges — most, if not all, specifically chosen for their opposition to abortion.

COVID-19 has been devastating for our communities and our families. At a time when many people feel they have nowhere to turn for help, Planned Parenthood Los Angeles has shown its reliance and continued dedication to providing essential health care and information no matter what.

—LONG BEACH MAYOR ROBERT GARCIA

We stand with those at the forefront of the fight for equity and justice. We stand with those protesting the violence against Black people and institutionalized racism in our country. Together, we demand justice. We demand accountability. We demand reform. We demand an end to the inequity that continues to permeate the lives of Black and Brown people in our health care systems, in California and in America.

—JODI HICKS, PRESIDENT/CEO OF PLANNED PARENTHOOD AFFILIATES OF CALIFORNIA

PPLA Volunteers march in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement in Hollywood, California.

PPLA Health Centers