With Malibu’s unique and sometimes troublesome location along Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu Urgent Care Center (MUC) provides emergency medical care at a central location in the city.
Marlene Matlow, secretary for Friends of MUC, described the difficulty a jammed PCH presents “because it demonstrated what we in Malibu have to deal with when we have a medical emergency.” According to the Friends of MUC website, “Malibu’s geographic location has created a tremendous need for an urgent care facility as well as the availability of medical services after hours and on weekends.”
Friends of Malibu Urgent Care, a nonprofit organization, is the muscle behind funding and fundraising efforts for the center. According to Matlow, the organization has “been working with the doctors to see what special new equipment they need.” The overarching problem, however, is that MUC is due for much-needed renovations.
“The building has some age behind it that has given us the feeling that it’s time that it has some work done,” Matlow said about the 60-year-old building.
After St. John’s Health Center ceased funding the center in 2001, Friends of MUC President Helene Eisenberg said “it cost us 200,000-and-some-odd dollars [yearly] to keep the center open.”
Funds go toward keeping the center open as long as possible, with hours that extend to 5-7 p.m. in the winter and 5-8 p.m. in the summer past normal 9 a.m.-5 p.m. business hours. Eisenberg and Matlow emphasized that the center remained open 365 days, including weekends and holidays.
The center’s facelift will cost a minimum of $600,000—triple the amount necessary to maintain the center.
Part of that cost stems from redoing the parking lot to be handicap-compliant.
“The city’s requiring us to [redo the parking lot] because the American with Disabilities Act requires that there not be too much of a slope through the handicap entrance,” Eisenberg said.
Matlow followed up by saying, “We never had a handicap [entrance]; we had sort of a ramp.”
In addition to the slight slope from the parking lot, the two mentioned that an “electronic opener” would be added to the door to be wheelchair-friendly.
“We’re going to make it better for the doctors,” Matlow said.
In addition to the handicap-friendly additions, a privacy room will be installed toward the front of the center for family and friends to wait. A bigger office will be put in the back for doctors.
Other changes include “new surfaces, flooring and materials.”
“A lot of people take it for granted,” Matlow mentioned. “I don’t think they have any idea about how we keep this open.”
As an example, she pointed out that exam beds alone can cost around $6,000 per bed; a new, state-of-the-art X-ray machine could cost them $300,000.
“The way we’re going to be able to [start construction] is that we will be having a trailer on the property,” Matlow said. Staff members will be relocated to the trailer in the interim. The center would be somewhat functional during the day, but Matlow said the construction company would work throughout the night on renovations.
The seal of approval on the plan has yet to come through.
“We’re still waiting for the sign-off of the owner to place the trailer on the property,” Matlow said. “[We’re] hoping it’ll be sooner rather than later.” Once the owner approves the trailer, the City of Malibu Planning Commission would then need to approve a permit.
Still, Eisenberg and Matlow remain optimistic, stating that “the city’s been wonderfully cooperative with us.”
“We have been very blessed frankly because people understand the importance of the center,” Matlow said. “People give us money according to their money situation.”
The Friends of Malibu Urgent Care have a “Tree of Life,” where different leaves cost varying amounts of money. The center receives donations amounting to anywhere from $5 to $5000 and up. Recently, famed local musicians Herb Alpert and Lani Hall headlined a benefit concert at Pepperdine University’s Smothers Theatre to raise funds.
Matlow emphasized the value of donations—no matter how small or large: “It’s all important especially because when people donate, they’re putting their own personal stake in the Urgent Care.”