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B. Health Services Inventory
This section is intended to provide a brief overview as to what health services and facilities are located in Imperial County. More specific information on utilization of these facilities is provided in Section VI, Utilization of Services. Table 5.5 provides an inventory of available health services in the county while Table 5.6 provides more information on the scope of these services.
Table 5.5: Inventory of Available Health Services |
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Hospitals: There are two acute care hospitals in Imperial County: Pioneer Hospital, with 80 licensed beds, located in Brawley and El Centro Regional Medical Center, with 104 licensed beds, in El Centro. As shown in Table 5.7, the ratio of beds to 1,000 population is less than one-half of the average ratio of beds for California. Calexico Hospital in Calexico has recently closed and its future is unknown at this time. It had been licensed for 34 beds. There are no Mental Health Inpatient Facilities or Drug & Alcohol Recovery Inpatient Facilities in Imperial County.
Licensed Long Term Care Facilities: Long-term care facilities provide medical care to patients not requiring the acute level of care provided by a hospital yet requiring ongoing monitoring not available in the home.
Table 5.6: Scope of Services for Health Care Institutions in Imperial County by Institution |
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There are three licensed long term care facilities in Imperial County, of which one is not licensed to accept Medicare. These facilities are located in El Centro, Brawley and Imperial with a combined total of 253 beds. The ratio of nursing home beds to 1,000 population over the age of 65 is shown in Table 5.8. Compared to both California and U.S. averages, Imperial has fewer available long-term care beds available for the population most likely to need them. Numerous other facilities are located in nearby San Diego County and advertised locally in the Yellow Pages.
Ambulatory Care Facilities- Specialty Clinics: The State is responsible for licensing ambulatory care facilities throughout the state. In Imperial, there are thirteen licensed specialty clinics. This include: two dialysis centers, an orthopedic clinic which is licensed as a free clinic, a laser surgery center, two industrial care/urgent care centers, an outpatient behavioral health clinic, two limited general medicine clinics, and three clinics specializing in prenatal and OB care. These are not considered as "primary care clinics."
Table 5.7: 1995 Imperial County Hospital Beds per 1,000 |
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Ambulatory Care Facilities-Community Health Centers: There is one federally funded Community Health Center organization, Centro de Salud, Inc., in Imperial County. They operate four different clinics located in Brawley (the largest clinic with six physicians, three mid-level practitioners, and two dentists), El Centro, Calexico and Niland. They offer a broad range of services including general medical services, preventive and public health services, dental services and family planning. They do not offer prenatal, OB or mental health services. In the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development's Annual Report of Primary Care Clinics, 1995, they reported having 32,927 patients and 103,775 encounters of which 68,985 were for general medical visits, 12,551 were dental visits, and 22,239 were for other services. These clinics, by the sheer volume of reported patient visits, are clearly a leading provider of primary care to the community.
Table 5.8: 1995 Nursing Home Beds per 1,000 persons age 65 and over |
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Behavioral Health Services: The primary function of Imperial County's Mental Health Department is that of Crisis Intervention and referral to hospitals in San Diego or Palm Springs when psychiatric hospitalization is required. The County provides some Outpatient Services (primarily medication support) and operates a Day Treatment Program and a Partial Hospitalization Program to serve the persistently and chronically mentally ill population. The Department is divided into Adult services and Children's services and includes case managers that can assist in linking patients with other services available in the community. The Mental Health Department operates a alcohol/drug treatment program and there are other private programs available locally.
In terms of licensed mental health providers, there are two Psychiatrists, six Psychologists, eight Licensed Clinical Social Workers and 12 licensed Marriage, Family & Child counselors practicing in Imperial. Imperial County has been designated by the Federal government as a Health Professional Shortage Area for the discipline of Mental Health since 1986.
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