Correction to the Dec. 5 article 'LAFCO board updated healthcare district reviews'

In Joe Naiman’s article there are several inaccuracies that need to be restated:

1. The Fallbrook Regional Health District (FRHD) does not include a service area within the Camp Pendleton area, but does provide support to residents in De Luz.

2. The 2015 LAFCO Municipal Service Review (MSR) did identify an area that was more appropriately situated with the Tri-City District, and that separation was completed sometime before 2019.

3. The Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) with Palomar was initiated in 2014 when FRHD was looking for partner support to continue operations of the Fallbrook hospital. That JPA did not trigger additional partnerships and was canceled in 2018.

4. LAFCO’s MSR process and goal is to look at the whole of the San Diego region and see how the four Districts could better cooperate and or collaborate with one another. Additionally, it will explore how the commercial healthcare providers that serve our collective communities, such as, Sharp, Scripps, Kaiser and the various federally qualified healthcare centers (Community Health Systems-Fallbrook Family Health Center, Neighborhood Healthcare, Vista Community Clinics and many more) could better be integrated with the four public healthcare districts.

5. Both the Palomar and Tri-City healthcare districts operate acute care hospitals, which puts the focus and vision on the direct provision of hospital based medical care. By contrast, FRHD has shifted its mission toward health promotion and disease prevention services. Our primary initiative has been to bring education and resources about diabetes prevention and self-management to the Community Health and Wellness Center. However, we have identified a gap in services for primary and urgent care services and are in conversation with other entities to bring more clinical services and expanded urgent care options to the community.

As always, we encourage the public to attend any of the FRHD Board and Committee meetings which are all hybrid and can be accessed via the District’s website, https://www.fallbrookhealth.org/district-meetings-calendar, and, for those who are interested, we also post the recordings of these meetings to YouTube https://www.fallbrookhealth.org/frhd-public-meeting-video-recordings.

Questions about FRHD and our efforts can be directed to me at [email protected] or 760-731-9187.

Rachel Mason