Partners in Reproductive Health Care...

Los Angeles Regional Family Planning Council, Inc.

Family planning clinics help individuals make informed decisions about when and whether to have children, and enable them to act on those decisions. However, family planning clinics also provide a wide range of health services.

Furthermore, as health care costs rises, more and more families find private health insurance unaffordable. As a result, many low-income women and their families use family planning clinics as their point of entry into the health care system. In fact, these clinics serve as the only source of health care for many women.

Today, new issues challenge the world of family planning: an alarming increase in teen pregnancy; an explosion of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS; new contraceptive options; and the changing health care environment. These facts of reproductive life make it necessary for agencies to provide their health care services in new and innovative ways.

The cultural diversity of Los Angeles also challenges clinics to find creative ways to reach out to women who have remained outside the family planning system.

In the face of all of these challenges, family planning agencies strive to provide affordable, easily accessible family planning agencies to an ever-increasing number of individuals in need.

The Family Planning Council

For over 25 years, the Family Planning Council has administrated government funds for family planning and coordinated reproductive health care services in Los Angeles County.

The Council receives State Office of Family Planning and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Title X family planning funds. The Council then allocates these funds to health care providers countywide. These agencies provide services to more than 184,000 clients annually at approximately ninety clinic sites throughout Los Angeles County.

The Family Planning Council and Its Delegate Agencies

To guarantee that the public receives quality family planning services, the Family Planning Council works with its contract agencies in a variety of ways:

• Monitors services for compliance with State and Federal guidelines, and provides technical assistance as needed.
• Prepares clinic staff to respond to changing health needs though broad-based curriculum.
• Produces a wealth of educational materials.
• Maintains the largest family planning database in the country. This database is used to track current client needs and identify emerging trends in reproductive health care.
• Employs a teen coordinator to help agencies to increase clinic services to teens.
• Operates a pilot project to help family planning agencies comply with the American with Disabilities Act.
• Administers federal funds to family planning agencies outside Los Angeles County through the California Family Planning Council (CFPC). CFPC funds approximately 50 family planning organizations operating approximately 152 clinics in 32 counties throughout the Golden State, and served more than 335,000 clients in 1993.

The Family Planning Council and the Community

The Family Planning Council works to keep family planning at the forefront of health care reform and ensure that reproductive health care is fully-funded for women in need by presenting vital information to the media and the public:

• Collaborates with local media on public service campaigns that educate the public and provide critical services to individuals in need.
• Speakers Bureau volunteers generously give their time to address groups and organizations on a variety of subjects.
• Maintains an extensive multi-media resource library an reproductive health issues; the library is available to the public.
• Promotes family planning policies at local, state, and national levels.
• Conducts contraceptive research to increase available contraceptive options and improve service delivery.

Agency Services

• Services provided in all agencies include:
• Complete Medical Examinations
• Breast & Cervical Cancer Screenings
• Birth Control Services (including counseling and supplies)
• Screening and Treatment or Referral for Sexually Transmitted Infections
• Pregnancy Testing and Counseling
• Screening for Diabetes, Anemia and Hypertension
• Many clinics also offer these services:
• HIV (AIDS) Testing and Counseling
• Prenatal Care
• Male & Female Sterilization Services
• Natural Family Planning/Fertility Awareness Method Classes
• Basic Infertility Care
• Colposcopy & Cryosurgery
• Community Information & Educational Programs
• Nutritional Counseling

Clinics provide services on a sliding fee scale based on client income and family size.

Agencies Which Receive Family Planning Funds from The Family Planning Council

• AltaMed Health Services Corporation
• Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
• Chinatown Service Center
• East Valley Community Health Center, Inc.
• Family Planning Centers of greater Los Angeles, Inc.
• Harbor Free Clinic
• Hollywood-Sunset Free Clinic
• JWCH Women's Health Center, Inc.
• Koryo Health Foundation
• Los Angeles County Department of Health Services
• Los Angeles Free Clinic
• Memorial Women's Center for Family Planning
• Northeast Community Clinic
• Northeast Valley Health Corporation
• Pediatric and Family Medical Center
• Planned Parenthood of Pasadena, Inc.
• Planned Parenthood World Population/Los Angeles
• Samuel Dixon family Health Center, Inc.
• South Bay Free Clinic
• South Central Family Health Center
• T.H.E. Clinic for Women, Inc.
• University of California Los Angeles Family Planning Clinic
• Valley Community Clinic
• Venice Family Clinic
• Westside Women's Health Center
• Wilmington Community Free Clinic
• Women's Clinic

For information on nearby clinical services, please call: 1 (800) 942-1054

For information on how to volunteer at the Family Planning Council, call: (213) 386-5614, ext. 401

Los Angeles Regional Family Planning Council, Inc.

3600 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 600

Los Angeles, California 90010

(213) 386-5614

(213) 487-4193 TDD

The Los Angeles Regional Family Planning Council is leading the way in guaranteeing all individuals quality reproductive health care.

Family planning clinics serve over 184,000 women in LA County annually...less than half the women in need of subsidized services.

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