In just the past few months, several Bay Area so-called health clinics have closed entirely, while others are regrouping to keep the doors open, as funding dries up.
-- From "SF community health clinics forced to merge, close" by Victoria Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer 3/20/11
Planned Parenthood, Haight Ashbury Free Clinics and Lyon-Martin Health Services are just some of the San Francisco centers involved in the shakeup. Many of these clinics are getting squeezed by funding cuts from private and public sources while demand for their services from increasing numbers of uninsured patients is rising.
Major changes in the health clinics started last fall when the local Planned Parenthood affiliate lost the right to use the name because of its financial problems, a decision that left San Francisco, San Mateo, Marin, Sonoma and Alameda counties without any Planned Parenthood clinics for several months.
Lyon-Martin Health Services, which serves transgender people and women in San Francisco, has been teetering on the brink of closure for months and recently hired a new interim director to try to turn things around.
New Leaf, another center serving lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents in San Francisco, closed in October after being hit with increased rent and health care costs. It provided mainly mental health, substance abuse and HIV/AIDS services.
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From "Ex-Planned Parenthood abortion clinic network in San Francisco now closing its doors" by Christine Dhanagom, LifeSiteNews.com 3/3/11
Golden Gate Health Community (GGCH), a former Planned Parenthood affiliate and major provider of abortion services in the San Francisco Bay Area, will close all of its facilities this month.
The organization, which was formerly known as Planned Parenthood of Golden Gate, changed its name last year when it lost its affiliation with Planned Parenthood amid suspicions of financial mismanagement.
As a Planned Parenthood affiliate, the group made headlines in 2003 when it was implicated in the death of 18-year-old Holly Patterson, who died of septic shock after taking the RU-486 abortion drug. After experiencing severe cramping, bleeding, and vomiting, Patterson was initially told by the clinic to take more painkillers. She was eventually hospitalized and died three days later.
The organization has also drawn attention for its controversial advertisements mocking religion and depicting pro-life demonstrators being shot by a “superhero for choice,” and for its role in defeating California ballot initiatives requiring parental notification for abortions performed on minors.
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From "Planned Parenthood’s ex-affiliate in San Francisco goes belly up" posted at California Catholic Daily 3/3/11
“Golden Gate Community Health, formerly known as Planned Parenthood Golden Gate, closed its operations on February 28, 2011 after almost 90 years of service to the Bay Area,” said a March 1 news release from the organization. “Golden Gate Community Health operated health centers in Alameda, San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin Counties. The closing was caused, in part, by delays in State patient reimbursements and diminished donor support.”
When its former affiliate renamed itself and continued operating under the name Golden Gate Community Health, it set up a showdown with Planned Parenthood for millions of dollars in state and federal funding. Planned Parenthood divided up Golden Gate’s former territory between Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, based in San Jose, and Planned Parenthood Shasta Pacific, based in Concord. Part of Planned Parenthood Shasta Pacific’s new territory included San Francisco. Planned Parenthood Mar Monte expanded Planned Parenthood operations into Alameda and San Mateo counties, also once a part of Planned Parenthood Golden Gate’s turf.
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