Harbor Community Health Centers Among Top 10% Nationwide in Quality

Harbor Community Health Centers’ CEO Tamara King and Medical Director Dr. Caleb Lusk are excited about the future as HarborCHC celebrates its 55th anniversary, despite the incoming administration’s threats to specifically target the state of California for budget cuts — as they should be.
Their clinic was recently recognized by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and was awarded six badges of excellence, including the Health Center Quality Leader Gold Badge, acknowledging exceptional clinical quality performance — an honor given to only the top 10% of health centers nationwide.
“That’s really a testament to Dr. Lusk’s clinical leadership and adherence to quality measures,” HarborCHC CEO Tamara King said.
King noted that Federally Qualified Health Centers like HarborCHC don’t get paid a lot of money for being of high quality.
“At some point in the near future, when we go to value-based care, we will not be rewarded for quality, but you’ll be punished for not having quality.”
King gave Dr. Caleb Lusk high praise for leading the effort that won HarborCHC the honors three years sooner than their five-year goal.
“In the federally qualified health space, this is a really prestigious badge,” Dr. Lusk explained.
The gold badge, Lusk explained, underscores that HarborCHC has been providing the best preventive care and the best quality care to the community, including screenings for colon cancer and breast cancer, and screenings for lead in pediatric patients.
Dr. Lusk noted that HarborCHC has brought on board a bevy of quality clinicians including doctors, Femi Akinnagbe, MD; Suneun “Sarah” Reichert, doctor of osteopathic medicine; and Veronica Aguilar, MD — all of whom completed their residency training at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.
Other HarborCHC highlights:
• The clinic expanded its Diabetes Care program with a new dietician, monthly bilingual cooking demonstration classes for healthy eating, and a clinical pharmacist for medication management.
• The clinic’s podiatrist, Dr. Bennani added wound care clinics for treating diabetics and patients with other health conditions who have slow-to-heal wounds.
• A director of addiction medicine, Dr. Warren Yamashita was recently brought on board. He leads the clinic’s substance use disorder and support program. Through community outreach and partnerships, the clinic is sharing overdose kits with Narcan and fentanyl test strips.

Protecting Children’s Health After MATES II
In the Jan. 9 edition, Random Lengths News marked the 25th anniversary of the MATES II study that kicked off the modern era of environmental justice activism in the Los Angeles Harbor Area.
The Multiple Air Toxics Exposure Study II (MATES II), conducted by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), assessed cancer risks associated with air toxics in the South Coast Air Basin, including the Los Angeles Harbor Area. The study found that the average cancer risk from carcinogenic air pollutants, excluding diesel particulate matter, ranged between 300 and nearly 600 per million, with a regional average of 420 per million. When diesel particulate matter was included, the cancer risk increased to a range of 1,100 to 1,750 per million, with an average regional risk of about 1,400 per million.
The MATES II study identified that the highest risk levels were present in urban core areas, particularly in south-central Los Angeles County, the Harbor Area, and regions near freeways. Mobile sources, such as motor vehicles and other diesel-powered equipment, were found to account for about 90% of the cancer risk, while stationary sources contributed the remaining 10%.
Specifically, for residents in the Wilmington and San Pedro communities, the study concluded that they experience some of the highest cancer risks in the South Coast Air Basin due to exposure to polluted air.
Asthma is also a problem. Lusk noted that in 2024, HarborCHC added two pediatric care providers, one of whom has been at the clinic for a year, and the other who just came aboard. Lusk noted that they are seeing a lot of asthma.
“There’s a lot of environmental harm from being in this area,” Dr. Lusk said. “There is a lot of asthma in the area and we screen up front at an early age and link them to care with the pulmonologist.”
HarborCHC provides in-house care to their asthmatic pediatric patients, especially during the cold and flu season, when asthma can flare up.
There are a lot of patients who come in and they try to prevent them from being hospitalized, Lusk said. “We try to vaccinate those patients to prevent things like RSV and other respiratory viruses and illnesses during the cold and flu season.”
Dr. Lusk noted that too many in the community don’t have access to primary care and pediatric services and that having a stable place where they can go — a patient-centered medical home; and a great community clinic where they have access can really lower hospital admissions.
“No one wants to sit in the emergency room for six hours only to not get checked in and then get sent home,” Lusk said. “We try to prevent those and then just stay on the best-recommended treatment for asthma to prevent flare-ups.”

Celebrating 55 Years and the Road Ahead
Before the emergence of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in the mid-1960s, free clinics were largely built by grassroots community efforts, charitable organizations, or volunteer groups aiming to address unmet health care needs, particularly in underserved and low-income populations. These clinics relied heavily on volunteer health care professionals, donations and limited resources.
The San Pedro Free Clinic was a project initiated by the Free Youth Clinic Movement under the aegis of the San Pedro Coordinating Council in 1970.
The council, originally founded in 1933, had launched other initiatives including the operation of Camp Archie Shields, which served underprivileged children, and organized annual Christmas events for needy families. The council also promoted youth employment and community clean-up projects called “Operation Clean Sweep.”
The San Pedro Coordinating Council is a member of the Federation of Coordinating Councils, which advised and helped plan project activities that embrace all phases of community betterment, emphasizing youth. Membership in the Coordinating Council is open to all civic and service clubs, schools, churches, PTA organizations and youth groups, labor unions, senior citizens, veterans’ groups, county and city agencies, and interested individuals.
The Coordinating Council searched for two months for a facility, before Local 9 of the Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilders of America donated their offices on 6th and Grand.
King explained that before the Harbor Free Clinic was a Federally Qualified Health Center, it was a “look-alike,” meaning that the clinic did about 90% of all the work as a local Federally Qualified Health Center in 2007 or 2008, but it didn’t get any funding for it.
So the clinic applied to become a full Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), called a 330 Grantee, under HRSA to get federal funding.
A 330 Grantee refers to a healthcare organization that receives funding under Section 330 of the Public Health Service Act (PHSA), which is administered by HRSA. With that funding came the obligation of strict compliance with federal guidelines. King explained that the federal government focuses most on board governance and finance.
New Site in the Near Future?
King said the Harbor Community Health Centers have outgrown their current digs and are looking to expand. King explained that she and the clinic had put up a bid on the Baxter property but found it was not the right fit.
King said they’ve been like Goldilocks looking for a new space over the past three years at every fit and size.
“We’re sitting on everything and trying it out,” King jokingly said. “Some are too small. Some are too big. We actually did go into escrow on the Baxter High School property … beautiful property. We couldn’t make it work.”
King shared that HarborCHC is approaching the expansion with a two-pronged approach: the first is to purchase and own the dirt in San Pedro. She said that is a board mandate. The other is also expanding into Long Beach, but to rent in Long Beach until their footing there is firm.
“I’m not necessarily sure it’s wise to purchase in Long Beach before we are there,” King said. “That would be a little scary.”
Nevertheless, King is certain there’s a demand in Long Beach for HarborCHC’s services.
“[That] doesn’t mean folks are necessarily going to go to Long Beach, but it’s real,” King said.
The primary focus of the Long Beach site is going to be adult primary care and addiction medicine. Though there are eight other FQHCs in Long Beach, King said there are still 100,000 qualified Medi-Cal patients who are not being served by an FQHC.
“We have to do all this research to get the federal government to say, ‘Okay, you can open that site,’” King said.
HarborCHC is looking at two zip codes in Long Beach with a narrow focus but will expand that focus, when they have more patients as they roll out services.
“Almost like starting a new practice,” King said.
Dr. Lusk explained that addiction medicine is a part of primary care, and Federally Qualified Health Centers are the perfect place to screen for substance use disorders.
“One in 10 patients that are experiencing substance use disorder are never diagnosed or never treated, so no one knows if you’re coming in for an ear infection or maybe an opioid use disorder,” Dr. Lusk said. “It’s a part of our health screenings and providing evidence-based addiction care is a much-needed area, especially in Long Beach and in San Pedro.”
HarborCHC is planning for the clinic’s 55th anniversary commemorations and the timing is still to be determined. King, Dr. Lusk and the rest of their trusted band of medical professionals focused on the work at hand: providing gold-standard healthcare to the community.
A new presidential administration threatening the Golden State before even getting into the Oval Office would have some worried about the next four years. King admits she has some trepidation, but will not be cowed in fear.
“We survived the first Trump administration largely unscathed,” King said. “The silver lining to COVID was that Health Centers were front and center. We were doing vaccine drives in our parking lot, testing people in their cars, and trying to stay open and available for our community. I don’t know what’s in store. It’s hard to get too riled up at this point, but we’ll fight, we’ll organize, and we’ll try to articulate our message.”
King noted that FQHCs will lobby legislators in the statehouses and members of Congress in Washington D.C. every year.
“We’ll try to keep community health centers front-and-center, [reminding them] ‘Don’t forget about us,’” King said. “I think Federally Qualified Health Centers are in every single congressional district. They usually enjoy nonpartisan support, because we take care of everybody. You can come in with your Trump shirt. You can come in with your Harris shirt. We don’t care. You’re a patient first and foremost.”
King explained that they are preparing to train their staff to read an ICE warrant.
“Those trainings are already being scheduled,” King said. “Again, we did that last time. ICE did not show up here.”
King said there was a lot of fear, and not a whole lot of that expected fear came true last time. But rather than focusing on the fear, she, Dr. Lusk, and the rest of her trusted band of medical professionals are going to focus on the work at hand.