Tri-Cities Community Health: Diversifying and expanding to meet our community’s needs

It’s been more than 35 years since a small group of dedicated women came together to open a clinic because they saw the need to serve Latino farmworkers who were unable to obtain or pay for healthcare.

Our community health center began as a small clinic in Pasco focused exclusively on the low-income population. Since then, Tri-Cities Community Health (TCCH) has expanded to nine locations with health centers in all three cities, providing integrated high quality, patient-centered, behavioral, dental, medical and pharmacy services. We serve all members of the community, without regard for ability to pay.

The initial resources for operations came from fundraising efforts, limiting what the center could do. In 1990, the organization applied for and received Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) designation. The designation from the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) makes the health center eligible for grants and contracts from federal and state governments, as well as private foundations.

To meet the growing demand from an expanding Tri-Cities population, TCCH opened health centers outside of Pasco. Our Clearwater Health Center in Kennewick offers medical, behavioral health and dental services.

In 2017, a new health center opened on South Auburn Street specializing in Pediatric Endocrinology. Additional services, including a pharmacy, will open soon to provide access and affordable care for individuals in east Kennewick.

Research indicated that a large number of low-income individuals live in Richland, without easy access to affordable healthcare. This was the impetus for TCCH to expand our services, opening two health centers in Richland.

The first offers medical, behavioral health and support services such as WIC. The newest addition on Goethals Drive further enhances these services with the addition of an experienced endocrinologist and a pharmacy. Given the increasing number of individuals from all income levels affected by diabetes, it was important for TCCH to have medical and pharmacy experts on our staff to serve this population.

Our partners in our local school districts brought to our attention that some students did not have access to adequate healthcare, which interfered with their learning. TCCH applied for and was awarded a HRSA grant to operate School-Based Health Centers (SBHC) in two underserved neighborhoods in our community.

These centers are next to Amistad Elementary School in Kennewick and Ochoa Middle School in Pasco. We provide primary care medical services to students and their families. By delivering medical care close to where students live, we hope to improve their access to healthcare and their success in school.

We discovered that many of our patients were also struggling with vision challenges. Based on this need, we opened an eye clinic at the Pasco Health Center in 2015. Our optometrist is trained to treat vision and eye-related medical problems. Our eye clinic has been a great success and continues to expand.

TCCH has served the residents of Benton and Franklin counties for over three decades. We look forward to providing high-quality, accessible, and affordable health care to the community for years to come. Our comprehensive health care services are available to everyone in our community.

For more information, contact Martin Valadez, Director of Public and Community Relations at 509-543-1904.

This story was originally published April 2, 2018 at 2:21 PM with the headline "Tri-Cities Community Health: Diversifying and expanding to meet our community’s needs."