Sequoia Healthcare District OKs $500K for Planned Parenthood

A presentation to the health care district board by Sarabeth Janzen, director of Development Partnership for Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, showed how patient demand will only continue to grow. 

“We have already seen extraordinary increases in patients served at the Redwood City health center,” Janzen said.

The health care provider asked the district to support a grant of $1 million to help close the gap in funding lost. Planned Parenthood previously anticipated approximately $2 million for the current fiscal year through federal Medicaid reimbursement, prior to the Trump administration’s cuts in July. 

The Sequoia Healthcare District board approved giving the organization half of that request immediately, and will consider increasing that amount after the health district’s Chief Executive Officer Pamela Kurtzman provides fiscal context that shows they can afford more. The board also wants more information as to what other agencies in the county are also supporting Planned Parenthood.

While trends show an annual increase in patient needs since Fiscal Year 2022-23, Janzen said the closure of the former locations in San Mateo and South San Francisco is expected to bring 6,000 more patients to Redwood City’s doors, exacerbating that growth. 

This influx is in large part to the fact that patients believe Planned Parenthood is a “trusted resource and provider,” Janzen said. 

Dr. Laura Dalton, chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, presented the harm that can arise from a lack of high quality sexual and reproductive health care. There is extreme risk in unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions and untreated sexually transmitted infections. Risk trickles beyond the individual patient and affects the entire public, Dalton said. 

“This impacts the entire community,” Dalton said. 

In Fiscal Year 2024-25, the Redwood City location treated 5,271 patients through 8,400 visits, according to Janzen’s presentation. The majority of patients were ages 18 to 30, and 50.2% were Hispanic or Latino. The majority also live at or below 200% of the federal poverty line, Janzen said.

Across those 8,400 visits, 303 breast exams were conducted, 289 service cancer screenings were provided, 16,306 STI tests were conducted and over 60,000 methods of birth control dispensed. 

Of the patients treated in Fiscal Year 2024-25, nearly half were residents represented by the Sequoia Healthcare District. The district collects taxes to provide community-based health care services and represents central and southern San Mateo County residents. This includes residents of Atherton, Belmont, Redwood City, Portola Valley, San Carlos, Woodside and portions of Menlo Park, Foster City and San Mateo.

The health care district board approved the $500,000 in emergency funding, and will quickly look at its financial situation before considering approaching more funding by December. Kurtzman said it is likely possible to dedicate the entire $1 million to Planned Parenthood Mar Monte without dipping into reserves. 

Janzen said, in the meantime, Planned Parenthood Mar Monte is constantly looking at ways it can reorganize and adapt its programs to serve the needs of the community. 

“We really are turning over every possible stone we can,” Janzen said.