For decades, the Chinatown area near downtown Los Angeles served as the primary enclave for recently arrived Chinese immigrants and refugees the vast majority of whom did not speak English. Then, up to the mid-1970s, Chinatown did not have the proliferation and variety of Chinese-speaking services and businesses it does today.
Those Chinese immigrants who did not speak English often remained isolated, with no resources to meet their health and welfare needs. With limited English language skills, many in the Chinatown community were unable to access public and private services available to the general public much less take advantage of the wider economic opportunities available in the mainstream society beyond the borders of Chinatown. A small group of community volunteers recognized the need to address the problems of Chinese immigrants. From this initial recognition of need, evolved todays general concept of the Chinatown Service Center (CSC) that is to provide services and resources to help all immigrants and refugees of the community to adjust to and participate in life in the United States.
The actual roots of the CSC go back to 1971, when the Chinese Methodist Church hired a bilingual worker who worked at a small office in the church and counseled many newly arrived Chinese. Over the next four years, these early efforts attracted bilingual volunteers to assist its growing number of clients and its work gained broader community support.
In 1975, CSC moved from its Church affiliation and was incorporated as a non-profit organization dedicated to community service. Shortly thereafter, the CSC became a United Way agency and received an allocation to continue its work. Later that year, we were awarded our first government grant from the City of Los Angeles to establish an employment training program.
Over the next decade, additional needs arose in the community. First, there was a marked proliferation in number of Southeast Asian immigrants and refugees Cambodian and Vietnamese. Second, the geographical service area expanded dramatically eastward into adjacent Monterey Park, Alhambra, and the San Gabriel Valley. CSC responded by expanding our staff and providing services far beyond the borders of Chinatown.
LOCATIONTIMELINE In March 1985, CSC began occupying part of the first floor of the newly built, low income senior housing building called Cathay Manor. That location at 600 North Broadway in Chinatown, consists of approximately 5,600 square feet of office, training and counseling facilities. In four years, CSCs programs had outgrown the Cathay Manor space
In 1990, the Board of Directors took the bold step of purchasing 8,000 sq. ft. of space located on the fourth floor of Alpine Towers, 767 North Hill Street, about two blocks from the Cathay Manor site. Currently the site houses CSCs employment and counseling programs, citizenship classes and a computer lab, and CSCs administrative offices.
In 1991, CSC completed improvements at Alpine Towers, establishing it as CSCs main office. By April, remodeling of the Cathay Manor space was completed, doubling the size of our health clinic and expanding our social service program space. That established the Cathay Manor site as our branch office.
In 1992, CSC opened a small part time office in Monterey Park, located on Atlantic Blvd. After three years at that location, CSCs Monterey Park Office moved to a more accessible site at Chandler and Garvey. The office offers assistance for the elderly who are living at home.
In 2007, CSCs clinic was designated a Federally Qualified Health Clinic (FQHC) and changed its name to CSC Community Health Center (CSC CHC) and began the transition to upgrading its records system to state-of-the-art electronic medical records shortly after that.
Anticipating the changing health care needs of its community and noticing that a significant number of its patients were travelling from the San Gabriel Valley (SGV) into Chinatown for its clinical services CSC opened its first satellite Community Health Center site on Garfield Ave. in Alhambra (320 South Garfield Avenue, Suite 118) in 2010 to offer primary care medical services and insurance eligibility assistance.
With American Reinvestment And Recovery Act funds and an additional federal capital grant, in 2011 CSC remodeled and expanded its main office clinic to add three treatment rooms, one dental operatory, a larger waiting room, and overall improvements to patient flow.
In 2016, CSC Community Health Center opened a third Dental Clinic and a second Behavioral Health Division in the City of Alhambra at 320 South Garfield Avenue Suite 126 and Suite 202 to expand one stop Community Health Clinic services in San Gabriel Valley district.
On May 1st 2020,CSC was awarded a grant and the US HHS designation of 'Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic' (CCBHC), We added Suite #206 at the Alhambra BH Clinic to facilitate the need. In November, CSC expanded the Alhambra Medical Clinic in adding the adjacent suite #106. CSC also acquired a new mobile unit to visit school and housing sites.
Reviews
Rating 4.8 out of 5 based on 5 reviews
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2 years ago
Small business. Social distancing. Cute receptionist girl, if you care. Everything appeared clean. The exam chair I was in had the view of a wall, oh well. I think they accept government insurance, if that's important for you. I felt more like I was seen as a cash cow than an actual patient. The young guy only saw dollar signs in services he kept recommending and kept pushing for. He didn't feel honest and didn't build the patient trust that customers should expect from dental offices. He didn't introduce himself or anything; he showed up behind me and started recommending proceedures and aesthetic proceedures. When I asked about other stuff I knew only a specialist could do, he dodged the question and kept recommending the stuff he knew their office could do. Of course, I could blame the owner(s) for the lack of training or putting their employee in a position to push for other stuff on customers/patients. The X-ray method is painful and can be a little sloppy, exposing you to more x-rays from reshoots than other methods. I wouldn't mind visiting again because of conveniance, but I wish I knew beforehand what to expect. (I keep track of my honest reviews, don't bother trying to delete them) Edit: They have moved across the street a couple months ago to a very nice and new location, with new equipment! Seems like an entirely new staff. Had a great 1st visit. I went for a deep teeth cleaning The staff were nice and thoughtful. Seems fairly big and can handle many patients at once. I think this location supports both dental and physician practices. I came a couple hours early; someone didn't show up so I took their spot. I didn't need local injections for the first half of my deep cleaning; I'm still waiting to go in for the final half of the deep cleaning, I'm not sure who will do the work for that but I hope it's the same guy. However, it looks like I have some tool markings on my enamel where there didn't need to be work done. The dental hygienist and assistant lady were talking in Chinese about other stuff involving a computer. I wish they'd stayed focus on the task at hand...my mouth with a sonic metal scrapper against my teeth!!!! Don't distract my dental hygienist while he's working on my teeth, but you're free to distract him when he's working on your mouth, Ms. assistant. Even if it's work-related, don't distract him unless it's critical and involves me; you can talk/ask him about stuff later. There's over an hour between me and the next patient. The last half of my deep cleaning was okay. I can finally see the calculus buildup gone that I wasn't able to remove between 2 teeth!!! :) Ty dentists and/or hygienists ^_^
Diana Wei
2 years ago
New private office with own parking lot is shared between their health and dental dept is nice!! We are both now with Dentist Kelly. She's amazing! Understands anyone with autoimmunity too! They takes different insurances including medi-cal healthnt/allied. Dental Receptionist is the best! Really helpful and empathetic. 2017 Both the bf and I followed Dentist Edward Lew, D.M.D to this Monterey Park - Chinatown Service Center Dentist Office. Most compassionate, and knowledgeable Dentist I know of in Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley (626) area. We drive from Los Feliz (25miles round trip) just to see him. Been going to Edward Lew since 2011 at the Chinatown location, but last year insurance didn't take this office. Stuck trying out 3 other offices -- 2 other Cerrritos, and Agape Alhambra (horrible). Now they take HealthNet Liberty Dental Plan, and Aetna Plan. I'm pretty experienced with cavities since a kid. I think I have over 13 cavities, which requires maintenance, repairs and change outs. So I've had my fair share of horrible dentist for cavities, shots, cleanings, check ups (can see the 1-3stars for those bad dentists in my reviews last year).....its almost similar to the auto mechanic industry. If you find a good trustworthy experienced one, KEEP THEM!! He helped changed out all my cavities years ago (change every 10 years), usual check-ups, cleanings. He's gentle and patient, very in tune with his patients, explaining each step and making sure you're always okay. Cleanings are done really well here. Located in large commercial medical building with a parking structure in the shade or roof top sun. Its an old office but it works. Its the dentist that matters. Lobby full of seats and a tv playing Mandarin shows. Office with other dentists. Office staff is really nice. They're at lunch from 1230pm-1pm. They close at 5pm with last appointment at 4pm. Open Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday 8:30am-5pm. And I think he's now at the original Chinatown location only Saturdays?
Sue Wong
3 years ago
(Translated by Google) Dr Pomeroy is the best dentist I have ever seen, he is not only professional, he really cares about his patients, he is funny and kind, I give him 10,000 "likes". The other staff in Mengshi are very friendly and have a first-class service attitude. I would like to thank them for their hard work and professionalism. (Original) Dr Pomeroy Shi Wo Jian Guo Zui Hao De Ya Yi ,Ta Bu Dan Zhuan Ye ,Zhen Xin Guan Xin Bing Ren ,Feng Qu He Shan ,Gei Ta Yi Wan Ge "Zan ". Meng Shi Qi Ta De Zhi Yuan Fei Chang You Shan ,Fu Wu Tai Du Yi Liu ,Duo Xie Ta Men De Xin Lao He Jing Ye De Jing Shen .
Sue Wong
4 years ago
(Translated by Google) Dr Pomeroy is the best dentist I have ever met. He is not only professional, but also really caring about his patients. He is funny and kind, giving him 10,000 likes. The other staff in Mongolia are very friendly and have a first-class service attitude. Thank you for their hard work and dedication. (Original) Dr Pomeroy Shi Wo Jian Guo Zui Hao De Ya Yi ,Ta Bu Dan Zhuan Ye ,Zhen Xin Guan Xin Bing Ren ,Feng Qu He Shan ,Gei Ta Yi Wan Ge "Zan ". Meng Shi Qi Ta De Zhi Yuan Fei Chang You Shan ,Fu Wu Tai Du Yi Liu ,Duo Xie Ta Men De Xin Lao He Jing Ye De Jing Shen .
Stanley Moy
4 years ago
Great dental service.
Stanley Moy
5 years ago
Great dental service.
SK M
5 years ago
Best dentists period. They take medi-cal as well.
SK M
6 years ago
Best dentists period. They take medi-cal as well.
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