Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-34) visited Clínica Msr. Oscar A. Romero’s Marengo Street site in Boyle Heights to participate in the medical clinic’s Reach Out and Read program and to commemorate National Health Center Week.
Reach Out and Read is a nationwide nonprofit organization that promotes early literacy and school readiness in pediatric exam rooms by giving new books to children and advice to parents about the importance of reading aloud.
The congresswoman read the children the “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” storybook as they waited with their parents to get medical check-ups. The congresswoman then distributed free books made available as part of the Reach Out and Read program to the children and encouraged the youngsters and their parents to continue to read together to strengthen the children’s language skills and broaden their vocabularies. Since 2005, the Reach Out and Read program has provided more than 1,200 free books annually to Clínica Romero’s pediatric patients.
After the reading session, Congresswoman Roybal-Allard toured the medical clinic which provides quality and affordable health care, health education, and advocacy to the uninsured and underserved communities of Greater Los Angeles.
During its 26 years of service, Clínica Romero has grown from a very small operation to a $9.2 million Federal 330 Community Health Center, with two clinics in Pico-Union/Westlake and a third clinic in Boyle Heights. A longtime advocate of the medical center, the congresswoman secured federal funds for the clinic’s diabetes care program.
Named after Archbishop Romero of El Salvador, the organization was founded in 1983 by a coalition of Salvadoran civil war refugees and local volunteer health professionals who wanted to address the unmet health care needs of thousands of Central American refugees arriving in Los Angeles in the early 1980s.
Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard is a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, the Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Health Task Force, and the Co-Chair of the Congressional Study Group on Public Health.
