APLA Health Center, Long Beach - Long Beach, California

Belen

Had my first visit at APLA Health in Long Beach and I couldn’t be happier with the experience. The office is located on the St. Mary’s campus off Long Beach Blvd, with easy access and validated parking in the structure. The office is clean and welcoming, and the front desk staff were kind and helpful both over the phone and in person.

I was seen by Nurse Practitioner Emily, and she was amazing—thorough, patient, and never made me feel rushed. She took the time to answer all my questions, explained everything clearly, and even ordered labs that weren’t completed elsewhere, which made me feel like she genuinely cared about my health. I left feeling heard and taken care of. Highly recommend APLA Health to anyone looking for compassionate, attentive care!

Daniel G.

I’ve been an APLA Dental patient for three years nos and have nothing but the best to say about the healthcare I’ve been given here. After a poor experience at another provider, I didn’t visit the dentist for a couple years and when I came to APLA, my dental health was not the greatest. The team here made my then situation easy to understand, crafted a unique treatment plan that worked for me, and really helped me get my dental health back. Everyone is incredibly friendly, nonjudgmental, and really just wants the best for their patients. Shout out to Paulette, Dr. Kahn, and Ms. Mary for the quality treatments and service!

Guillermo L.

Love going to APLA Health Long Beach. The team is excellent in everything. I appreciate the attention I get from Dr. Max, Nurse Belinda, and Nurse Shannon. You guys are the best. Thank you for all you do.

baby J.

Apla health is a colorful clinic and i love it, The staff here is welcoming and very accepting of who I am. Big thank you to anthony who is the PrEP navigator for helping me enroll in PrEP Ap. The inside of Apla is very nice and the Pride colors caught my eye. I'll be establishing my care here, and new to Apla 🌈

Austin M.

The clinic my insurance assigned me to and I couldn’t be happier. Friendly and efficient staff. LGBTQ+ friendly

Steven M.

I love coming to my doctor appointments to see my doctor Jayne . She is absolutely amazing! Very helpful and caring. She is always wanting to help me with whatever is needed so I can have a healthy life. Everyone there is so nice , especially Logan at the front desk is always welcoming and very helpful. I highly recommend APLA Long Beach! Absolutely amazing!

Eric S.

I had a great first experience with APLA, and I'm thankful we have an inclusive healthcare center in the center of Long Beach! The pre-arrival forms were the most comprehensive and all electronic that I've ever experienced, which is a HUGE benefit to quality of care.
Check-in was flawless and quick because I'd completed all the forms online, beforehand. I also got lots of helpful reminders.
Dr Mata was great! She's all business, efficient, listened to my needs, and nothing about my "adventurous" health history gave her any pause. It's great to have an LGBTQ-informed provider! And, she was able to pick up on a care-plan that was transferred from my doctor in TX.
I'm already booked for follow-ups and it's nice to restart my care plan here with APLA!

Ripley C.

Let me just say, I've had my ups and downs with this office. Everyone seems to try their best and is very nice. It's really good for us members of the alphabet Mafia, the LGBT community that is. But as a gay man I can tell you that they have never once asked me to do a pap smear or other tests, I often times have to request things.

Are the providers knowledgeable? I would say the doctors here are a 3 out of 5 stars it seems like a lot of them come to this office as some sort of a stepping stone for them to complete their residency and then they leave. I once had to argue with a female provider who was declining testing my testosterone levels because it was after 10:00 a.m. and I literally had to question her motivation. I told her that I have been poking myself once a week with testosterone for over 7 years so exactly what does the location of the Moon and the Sun in the sky have to do with the level of hormones that I'm giving myself? It was annoying that I had to explain to her the way hormones work when you don't make your own the only source is from the injection and the day I came in was the day I needed to give myself my injection which means my hormones were at their lowest level, the time of day is irrelevant. She then proceeded to say that they would go ahead and test them 'this time'. So I had to correct her again and let her know that, no, if I want you to test my testosterone you'll do it anytime I ask you to because I am in charge of my healthcare, not you! I told her that she is simply a source of knowledge and education so I can make my own best decision for my body and my health care. I'm very Hands-On with my own health care an advocate for patients to take charge of their lives and not just do whatever the doctor says and nothing more or less. Mind you, the situation happened about 4 years ago.

More recently, I was having some symptoms in my stomach of a particular bacteria and I was tested for it and it came back positive. The doctor told me what medications to take. After about 10 days on the meds, I expressed concern that I was either having side effects of the medication or signs of an opportunistic infection, the best thing he could do was refer me to an ear nose and throat doctor. Didn't seem to be interested in doing a differential diagnosis on a medication that he gave me as the prescriber. That tells me that he did not have enough education or information to be able to treat me and instead pushed me off on an ENT that I would have to wait a month to see. It really made me lose confidence in the medical staff here. As part of the treatment, it is standard procedure to add in an additional medication to help clear the bacteria but I was not suggested to do that at all, and I ended up going to another doctor's office to start primary care there. I explained to them all of the issues I was experiencing and it turns out my symptoms were likely ulceration in my mouth due to clarithromycin side effects.

I have great insurance, it's $1,000 a month in fact for my PPO. The only reason I was ever coming here was because I wanted to be in a healthcare setting that understood issues to care for the health of members of the lgbtq community.