Community health center to open in San Gabriel Valley

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Most of the news we hear about healthcare delivery these days is depressing. Problems with access to care. Lack of insurance. Hospital and emergency room overcrowding. Skyrocketing costs. But on Wednesday, residents in the eastern San Gabriel Valley have something to celebrate . At 10 a.m., the East Valley Community Health Center will hold a grand opening ceremony for its new building at 420 S. Glendora Ave., West Covina.

The clinic, which serves about 25,000 people a year, is the only community health center in the eastern San Gabriel Valley that offers full services to the uninsured, under-served and working poor. For 26 years, it has operated out of a 8,500-square-foot structure that was in need of constant repair. The new facility has triple the space, providing for more exam rooms, expanded dental care and more room for mental health services and health education.

Nationwide, there are about 4,000 community health centers that provide care to under-served communities through contracts with federal and state governments. Community health clinics are a vital piece of the healthcare system in the United States by providing the kind of regular care that keeps people healthy and out of emergency rooms and hospitals.

Building the new East Valley clinic was no easy task, says Mary E. Kashmar, director of development. The center spent four years raising money for the capital campaign, 93% of which came from private donors, including some of Los Angeles’ major charitable groups such as the S. Mark Taper Foundation, the Ahmanson Foundation, Weingart Foundation, Kaiser Permanente Foundation and many others. But the residents of the east San Gabriel Valley helped, too, says Kashmar. ‘Two thousand of our patients gave a total of $32,000,’ she says. ‘I would open envelopes containing quarters. They gave what they had. And this is their clinic.’

For more information, go to the clinic’s website at: www.evchc.org.

-- Shari Roan