Community Corner—Sea Mar Community Health Centers

Community Corner highlights the work of Seattle Human Services' community partners in their own words. Our goal is to gather stories and photos that illustrate their amazing work on behalf of the people of Seattle. This post highlights the Sea Mar Community Health Centers.

What is the role your organization fulfills in your community?

Sea Mar Community Health Centers is a 501c3 nonprofit federally qualified health center serving the community since 1978. Our mission is to provide quality, comprehensive health, human, housing, educational and cultural services to diverse communities, specializing in service to Latinos. Sea Mar aims to increase access to services that empower marginalized communities, serving everyone regardless of race, gender, religion, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, or ability to pay. Founded on the principles of social justice, Sea Mar advocates for the most vulnerable members of our communities at the local, state and national levels.

How does your partnership with Seattle Human Services (HSD) assist you in that role?

Sea Mar values the relationships we have with community partners such as the HSD. HSD helps us carry out our mission to provide services and assistance to underserved communities. The funding we receive through the Public Health-Seattle & King County Community Health Centers Partnerships program supports access to medical and dental services for uninsured and underinsured individuals regardless of ability to pay, and the funding we receive through the HSD Aging and Disability Services' Community Living Connections program supports programming that provides affordable home care services for the elderly and disabled.

What is your organization's origin story?

Driven by social justice, Sea Mar was founded in 1978 by a group of University of Washington students who recognized a need for more health services tailored to the Spanish-speaking community. The group found a medical clinic for sale in the South Park neighborhood of Seattle and successfully applied for a federal grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration Community Health Center program. The first Sea Mar clinic provided medical, x-ray, laboratory, WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children), and nutrition services.

Today, Sea Mar has grown to be one of Washington state's largest community health centers and has evolved its mission to include an array of community-based, comprehensive health care and social services provided at over 100 sites throughout western Washington, including medical, dental, outpatient mental health, outpatient and inpatient substance use disorder treatment, care coordination, health education, affordable low income and farmworker housing, long term care, WIC, maternal support services, nutrition, child development center, educational achievement and scholarship programs, training and education programs for staff and aspiring health care professionals, citizenship classes, Latino senior information and assistance, home care, home health, outreach and enrollment assistance, farmworker outreach, training and assistance, and Spanish language radio programming. Sea Mar remains committed to its origins, its place within the social justice, Chicano and community health care movements, and the importance of addressing a broad spectrum of social determinants of health.

How has your organization grown or developed in recent years?

Sea Mar's vision has always been to evolve services to ensure we are addressing the needs of our patients and the communities we serve. The consistent growth of the organization through the expansion of existing programs and adding new programs has led to serving almost 300,000 patients and clients across Washington annually. In recent years, expansion has included adding new clinics in underserved areas, including a school-based health center at Auburn Mountainview High School and assuming operations of the community health center clinic on Vashon Island.

Sea Mar operates two Spanish language radio stations that provide entertainment and news programming and serve as a valuable tool to share health and wellness resources and information with the Spanish speaking community. Sea Mar has placed a priority on increasing its affordable housing portfolio to increase access to housing. Sea Mar now operates 16 affordable housing developments that support individuals, families, farmworkers, and seniors earning incomes of 60 percent or less of the area median income. Two of Sea Mar's properties are dedicated to providing housing and supportive services to women and families who were previously homeless or at risk of homelessness. We are also proud to have the first museum in the state celebrating the history of the Chicano/a/Latino/a community in Washington state.

Why is it important for HSD and City of Seattle taxpayers to invest in community-led work?

Community-led work is important because we have the opportunity to meet people where they are. In recent years, and especially during the pandemic, we saw how health inequality affects communities of color. By investing in programs and partnering with agencies that provide direct services to marginalized communities, we contribute to the health, strength and sustainability of the community.

How do your programs and services help to reduce the disparities experienced by people of color living in our region?

We know that diversity in the health care and social services workforce improves care and experience. We also know that patients who can access culturally competent health care are more likely to have better outcomes. Organizations like Sea Mar offer a diverse, mission-driven workforce who reflect the communities they serve and are able to provide culturally appropriate care.

Sea Mar remains committed to addressing the issues affecting our communities through our programs and services, and always adheres to our founding basic principle that all communities have a right to affordable health care and be free from all forms of oppression. Sea Mar reasserts these principles by standing firm with other communities of color, tackling health inequities and other layers of social and structural conditions through advocacy and direct service.

Sea Mar offers services in multiple languages, either through bilingual staff or interpreter services. We offer a sliding-fee scale to make health care costs affordable, our in-clinic pharmacies provide medications at reduced costs, and we remain committed to ensuring everyone receives an affordable education and affordable housing. We offer transportation through the Access program for patients who are not able to come to the clinic due to disability or advanced age and cannot access telehealth services, ensuring their health conditions are addressed in a timely manner and there is no break with continuity of care.

Tell us an example of how an HSD-funded program or service impacted the life of one of your community members?

Through the Home Care Program, we have been able to assist many people, from young to old. One of these is a 17-year-old client and his family. He is mentally delayed and nonverbal, and his father is not present. He depends completely on his mother and older sister, as he is unable to do anything on his own. Daily living activities that other people take for granted are an impossibility for him, so he needs assistance to dress and feed himself, use the bathroom, and brush his teeth.

As a client in Sea Mar's Home Care program, two Sea Mar caregivers provide daily services morning and evening, allowing the mother to work and take financial care of her family. This has also allowed the client to go to school and have a semblance of living the most normal life possible for him. The client's mother has expressed how grateful she is to Sea Mar for taking such good care of her child. She recently lost her daughter in a car accident, so caregivers have become a very big part of their lives, truly caring for this child and helping him and his mother live as peacefully as they can.

What motivates your staff or keeps you going?

Sea Mar is made up of highly dedicated and hardworking individuals, and Sea Mar takes pride in offering diverse and knowledgeable employees who are equipped to meet our patients' individual needs. Community focused work involves a special group of people who have conviction and a true passion to help others. Sea Mar employees are motivated by the role they play in assisting others, and seeing the impact of their work in creating positive outcomes for patients becomes inspiration to keep going.

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