Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto has loaned the Ravenswood Family Health Center in East Palo Alto $175,000 in a short-term loan to allow the clinic to keep paying its staff during the continuing state budget crisis in Sacramento.

The clinic, which relies heavily on state funding, is scrambling to pay its bills while the Legislature has been at an impasse in approving a new state budget.

"It's affecting our ability to function," Luisa Buada, clinic CEO, said of the state budget crisis. "We've delayed the anticipated start of critically needed community mental health services and have slowed our hiring process for vacancies. If this impasse continues into mid-September we will have to consider limiting access to care."

"The state is putting the lives of the most vulnerable at risk with its failure to pass a budget," said Christopher Dawes, CEO of Packard Hospital. "Our partnership with Ravenswood drove us to step in to help, but many other community centers don't have such support. The governor and Legislature need to approve a budget promptly so that organizations like Ravenswood and the communities they serve are not harmed."

"Lucile Packard Children's Hospital has done a truly noble act in coming to the aid of the most vulnerable in their time of need," Assemblyman Ira Ruskin, D-Redwood City, said.

The Legislature has not been able to agree on a budget for the new fiscal year, which began July 1.

— Don Kazak