Business Journal
Serving San Jose and Silicon Valley
November 5, 1999

Health center stands apart
By Pat Lopes Harris

Santa Clara Family Health Plan, which offers health insurance to people who qualify for Medi-Cal or Healthy Families, has opened what it is billing as a one-of-a-kind health information and social services center.

The plan opened its Family Resource Center Oct. 17 at 1450 White Road in East San Jose. What sets this center apart is that it brings together for the first time health education and social services.

That's according to Ivonne Montes de Oca, president of The Pinnacle Co., a San Jose-based marketing firm that represents SmithKline Beecham Corp. The Philadelphia-based pharmaceutical company gave the health plan a $50,000 grant for the center.

Specifically, the Family Resource Center includes a satellite office of the Santa Clara County Social Services Agency. One of the primary services offered at that office is the ability to apply for Medi-Cal benefits.

Nancy Gere, spokeswoman for the Santa Clara Family Health Plan, said the resource center also will have a health education component. It will offer classes, videos and other materials on topics such as parenting and smoking.

Ms. Gere said the health education part of the resource center is being paid for with the $50,000 grant from SmithKline Beecham. Aside from that grant, Ms. Gere said the health care plan spent $28,000 on the center.

Santa Clara Family Health Plan was founded in 1997 to provide access to health care for people who could not afford conventional coverage. That includes children covered through the state's Healthy Families program, as well as mothers, the elderly and the disabled.