Joahnna’s many medical needs are discernible in her scars. Besides those from her surgeries, she has fierce gouges on her left hand, left arm, right leg, and right shoulder, as well as on the right side of her face—three parallel lines running from her temple to her jaw. And she has emotional scars. The accident occurred just months after she graduated from high school; she had planned on going to Santa Monica College to study art. “I felt like everybody else’s lives kept going, but mine stopped,” she says. “For a month, I was just lying in bed in the hospital. I got so depressed.” So Joahnna also meets with Steve Artiga, one of Venice Family Clinic’s licensed clinical social workers, who visits the Colen Family Health Center on Thursdays.
More than a dozen staff members share time at the Colen Family Health Center. Shown here are (left to right, top to bottom) Mary Smith, NP, Susana Martinez, Lara Stewart, DO, Alma Medrano, Patty Argueta, Anne Arikian, MD, Maria Reynoso, Yolanda Reyes, Oralia Palma, and Jackie Montes. Photo: Margaret Molloy
“It makes me feel much better, having him to talk to,” she says. “I’m much less depressed.”
The Clinic’s staff dental team stops by once a week. So does Dr. Victor Perez, a pediatrician specializing in school function. Volunteers from Sathya Sai Baba Group run a Saturday clinic providing primary care and dentistry, with orthopedics soon to follow. And a new three-year pilot project, funded by the OneWest Foundation and the UCLA Health System, will enable qualified uninsured patients to access specialty care and hospitalization at UCLA.
While most other patients’ needs might be quite different from Joanna’s, they are no less important. Pregnant women visit for prenatal care; kids for immunizations and physicals; adults with chronic diseases to keep their conditions under control. Hence, the comprehensiveness of care offered at the Colen Family Health Center is similar to that at other Venice Family Clinic sites.
One of the staff members asks her when that might happen. Joahnna has only been walking for the past week, but she doesn’t hesitate to answer. “Any day now.”
But clearly one of the most important features of the Colen Family Health Center is its location. Mar Vista is home to the largest concentration of low-income families on the Westside, many of whom work long days made even longer by lengthy commutes. Even before the Colen Family Health Center opened, residents of Mar Vista and surrounding Palms and Culver City made up more than a third of Venice Family Clinic’s patient population. The vast majority got their care at one of the Clinic’s sites in Venice or Santa Monica. The Colen Family Health Center, at the intersection of Braddock Drive and Inglewood Boulevard, is a short drive for most in the neighborhood and walking distance for many. It is also just steps from partner agencies providing additional family services.
Just like other Venice Family Clinic sites, the Colen Family Health Center features a wide range of care, from primary care to dental care to mental health services, with more services coming soon. In addition, it is bright and cheerful, with artwork lining the common areas. Photo: Margaret Molloy
The proximity of the Colen Family Health Center means a lot to all of its patients, but perhaps none more than Joahnna, who visits about once a week. Her father, Melvin, drove her to this particular appointment, but she looks forward to eventually making the trip on her own. Walking that one city block will be a major milestone in her recovery.
Though her father drove her to this visit, Joahnna looks forward to being well enough one day to make it on her own to the Colen Family Health Center. Walking that one city block will be a major milestone in her recovery. Photo: Margaret Molloy 3