Westside : U.S. Health Secretary Helps Open Center

Donna Shalala, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, participated Monday in the opening of the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities.

The aim of the new center at the School of Public Health is to coordinate research projects on children’s health issues that include doctors and researchers from hospitals and facilities across Los Angeles. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center are affiliated with the new center.

Addressing a crowd of about 200 health professionals, Shalala commended UCLA for its effort to improve children’s health.

“As you open the doors at UCLA’s Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities, you are combining the best of all worlds,” she said. “You are combining the best academic research, the best leaders and the best prevention strategies to provide a one-two-three punch for our children, our families and our country.”

Shalala went on to describe the Clinton administration’s commitment to the managed health care system and Clinton’s fight to reform Medicaid instead of allowing lawmakers to repeal the program. She also pitched a new federal health strategy known as “Safe Passages,” which targets substance abuse, tobacco use, teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, violence, diet and physical activity.