THE BACK STORY
Tatyana Bak became CEO of Elica Health Centers in 2017 . The nonprofit has 11 locations in Sacramento and Yolo counties and three mobile health units . PHOTO BY FRED GREAVES
Back to the Beginning
Tatyana Bak is leading Elica Health Centers ’ growth as CEO 30 years after helping to launch a clinic
BY Ed Goldman
Elica Health Centers by the Numbers
11 : Medical centers
Tatyana Bak was 29 years old , an émigré from the city of Odessa in what was then the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , when in 1989 she helped open a medical clinic that eventually evolved into Elica Health Centers . She ’ s now the CEO of the collection of medical clinics that delivers care to the working poor , the underserved and uninsured , and those experiencing homelessness , as well as culturally discombobulated arrivals from distant parts of the planet .
When Dr . Alex Janushkowsky , a fellow immigrant from the Soviet Union , opened J Street Medical Center , at first to treat other Russian and Ukrainian immigrants who ’ d escaped the chokehold of the Iron Curtain , Bak joined him to handle billing and operations . Janushkowsky was the son of an executed military officer in the Russian czar ’ s army , according to his 2010 obituary in The Sacramento Bee . ( Elica still has a J Street office , though not at the same location .)
By then , Bak , who came to the U . S . when she was 15 , had worked in the billing department at Mount Zion Hospital in San Francisco , which gave her a grounding in the complexities of medical billing and a deepening understanding of the support programs available to help the poor and underserved . She also says her work as an oncall clerk for a variety of Sacramento County departments , including social services , “ gave me insight into poverty and struggle of immigrants and others and what was available to help them . I learned and studied ; I am like a sponge ,” she says in her still-thick accent ( and her sentences remain largely article-free ).
In 1999 , the center was sold to Elizabeth Cassin , and Bak decided to open her own billing and office-setup company for medical professionals . Cassin renamed it Midtown Medical Center and turned it into a nonprofit in 2002 . In 2012 , Cassin rebranded the expanded
3 : Mobile health units 445 : Employees
89 : Doctors , dentists and behavioral health providers
Nearly 42,000 : Patients in 2019 $ 35 million : Revenue in 2019
Through the Years
1979 : J Street Medical Center launches
1989 : The center is sold to Elizabeth Cassin
2002 : Cassin converts it to a nonprofit
2012 : The name is changed to Elica Health Centers and becomes a federally qualified health center
2013 : Tatyana Bak joins Elica as COO 2017 : Bak become CEO
SOURCE : ELICA HEALTH CENTERS , GUIDESTAR . ORG
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