Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics

SBNC is heartbroken by the recent murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. These recent losses, in close succession, followed by violence against peaceful protesters, are an intolerable part of a larger picture of racial profiling of Black Americans dating back to the beginnings of our nation. Advances in technology, such as cell phones, have brought awareness of these practices to the wider public eye. We stand witness to the unfolding events in horror and shame.

We say to our Black fellow Americans: We stand with you. We demand change with you. We commit to make changes with you.

Against the backdrop of COVID-19 and the disproportionate impact on the Black community and other communities of color, a larger picture of disproportionate medical illness and death has come into sharp focus. Through our work at SBNC we are working to identify and address health care disparities and the social determinants of health. We continue to see widening disparities and inequality in communities of color’s ability to access quality health care. We are joining efforts by a growing number of health care organizations—to identify risks and health disparities based on race and social disadvantages and to work to minimize those disparities.

We pledge to examine our current strategies in depth, to redouble our efforts to shine a light on unacceptable gaps in care and to create incentives for improvement for the organizations we work with, including ourselves.

We commit to work to bring about social and economic justice; to advocate for criminal justice system reforms, including supporting new approaches to community policing practices, equitable legal representation, and incarceration reforms.

As an employer, we recommit to identifying opportunities that promote development of a diverse, thriving workforce and leadership.  We invite all stakeholders we work with—health plans, hospitals, medical practices, employers, states and the federal government—to work with minority leaders and organizations to identify and examine opportunities to create meaningful change together.

Our Mission at SBNC is to provide high quality, comprehensive, affordable health care to all people, regardless of their ability to pay, in an environment that fosters respect, compassion, and dignity.

We believe in and strive to create an environment that supports our Mission and will continue to do so, while actively working to improve upon our diversity within the staff, our patients served and our leadership.

COVID-19 TESTING at our clinics

During the COVID-19/Coronavirus outbreak, the Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics (SBNC) asks that our patients please do the following to help protect you and all of our patients and dedicated staff.

• Call ahead if you do not feel well so we can help you decide how best to provide your care. Per CDC guidelines, if you are feeling ill, please do not come to the clinic without calling first.
• Please keep healthy friends and family members home rather than joining you for your appointment. Children should have only one adult with them. Adults with caregivers should only bring one adult with them.
• As the local situation changes, you may be offered a visit by telephone or video (Telehealth) instead of visiting the clinic to keep you healthy.

We have been partnering with other community medical leaders to make sure our clinicians are up-to-date on all the breaking information on the pandemic from local, state, and national sources.  Our staff has been trained extensively on sanitizing our facilities and clinicians and their support staffs have been trained in the use of personal protection equipment (PPE) and masks have been fit-tested to provide the safest level of security in the outpatient setting while adequately evaluating at-risk patients.

To reduce the risk of infection, we have separate appointment times for healthy patients and patients with respiratory symptoms or fever. We offer either in office or telehealth visits to all patients depending on their needs or preferences. Our dental clinics’ are able to offer most dental services in office. Please call to make an appointment. 

Please call before coming to the health care center when you wish to be seen so we will be ready to serve you and also prepared to protect other patients and staff.

• Triage personnel who can quickly evaluate you for COVID-19 like symptoms will be greeting patients at the front entrance of our clinics to review symptoms, checking temperatures and having patients sanitize their hands before entering the clinic.

Our clinic hours have changed.  All clinics will now close at 6 PM.  To support the mandate for social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, we developed ways to care for patients remotely by phone or video (Telehealth/Zoom), through your mobile phone or computer.  If you are interested in this type of visit, please call our Call Center at (844)594-0343 We will continue to accept new patients who become ill and need assistance.

Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics remains dedicated to providing the highest quality, affordable medical, dental and behavioral healthcare to its community of need. We are also committed in keeping our staff as safe as possible during this stressful time. We will continue to stay up-to-date of community, state, and national guidelines.