By Los Angeles County Politics (LACP)
Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell‘s office sent its Deputy for Health and Wellness, Victoria Gomez, to tour the Galaxy Free Clinic at Vermont Galaxy, 10121 S. Vermont Ave. in Westmont, this week, a visit that included a walk-through of the clinic and a conversation with the clinic’s physician, Dr. Kenneth Clark, about what the facility needs to expand care along the Vermont Avenue corridor.
Gomez toured the full Vermont Galaxy facility alongside Executive Director Dennis Taylor and clinic staff, and discussed the possibility of bringing on-site testing for sexually transmitted infections, Hepatitis and other illnesses common among unhoused and housing-insecure residents along the corridor the clinic serves. She noted that Mitchell’s office has some discretionary funding available and asked Clark and his staff to put together a wish list of essential equipment the clinic needs.
The visit is the latest sign of official interest in the clinic since it opened in April, when Dr. Clark and two colleagues, Dr. Wilkins Martinez and nurse practitioner Dr. Latasha Reed, began offering free walk-in medical care to adults with no insurance, ID, or appointment required.
The clinic has since grown from three days a week to five, reflecting demand from the surrounding Westmont community.
The clinic is one piece of a larger wraparound model at Vermont Galaxy, which also provides psychological support, job placement, life skills training, daily meals and clothing, and help obtaining identification and other documentation. Taylor has said workforce development programming is planned, and at full build-out the facility is designed to house 60 to 72 residents, though the shelter component still awaits final permits.
Vermont Galaxy has spent years pushing for more consistent funding for those services in a stretch of unincorporated LA County that sits on the boundary between two county Service Planning Areas — a location organizers have said leaves the area a statistical blind spot when funding gets distributed.
Taylor has said in the past that the organization scored well on funding applications to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority but still came up short, a pattern he has attributed in part to that boundary problem.
Anyone seeking care at the Galaxy Free Clinic can reach the clinic at (323) 373-5798 or thegalaxyfreeclinic@gmail.com.
