Tri-Cities Community Health is expanding services and renovating its facility, with the help of a $1 million grant awarded by the Human Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Although the renovations and building improvements started with savings from TCCH, the grant will allow the health center to finish upgrades sooner.

[blockquote quote="Our mission is to serve the underserved and underinsured." source="Martin Valadez, director of business development for Tri-Cities Community Health" align="right" max_width="300px"]

“We were fortunate to receive this grant,” said Martin Valadez, TCCH’s director of business development and public affairs. “We wouldn’t have been able to do this without the grant, or it would have taken us longer.”

Valadez said TCCH’s goal with the project was to provide a quality setting for the patients and the community.

“We hadn’t done updates in some time,” Valadez said. “It not only looks better, but it provides better access and increases comfort for the patient so they know they are getting quality healthcare — as good as anybody else.”

Most of the renovations are being made at the Pasco clinic to centralize services and improve the patient experience. Other changes include extended hours for urgent care and integrating the behavioral health program with the rest of their medical staff. TCCH’s behavioral health program is currently in a separate building across the street from the Pasco location.

“When you have behavioral specialists collocated with medical staff, they can better serve the patient and (patients) get better treatment,” said Valadez.

Earlier this year, TCCH also opened an optometry clinic.

“It’s a beautiful setup on the second floor,” said Richard Ballard, TCCH director of operations.

The reception area has also undergone a major facelift, he added, and it now features seven reception lanes, new millwork, LED signage and new flooring.

“That was our biggest undertaking,” said Ballard.

TCCH is relocating all administrative and support functions to a 21,000-sq.-ft. facility at 800 W. Court St. This will allow the health center to centralize clinical functions at 515 W. Court St. and expand urgent care services, lab and pharmacy.

In addition, TCCH’s dental services are being expanded. In October, the health center expanded its dental office by adding three new dental chairs. Previously it had four.

In Kennewick, TCCH is expanding its behavioral health services and adding more suites to the space. The pediatrics unit is also being renovated and expanded to improve flow of services and reduce wait times.

“We expanded to more suites,” said Valadez. “We’re trying to meet the needs of community and increase access, so they have shorter wait times.”

TCCH, originally named La Clinica, was founded in Pasco in 1981 by a small group of women in the Pasco community who saw the need to serve low-income community members who could not afford to pay for health care services.

In 1990, the nonprofit clinic met the requirements to become a designated Federally Qualified Health Center, which made it eligible to obtain financial support from the federal and state governments to expand services. As a FQHC, TCCH can receive funding to partially cover the cost of providing primary medical care, mental health, vision, and dental services to persons and families with no health insurance, limited health insurance or Medicaid recipients.

Since then, TCCH has evolved into a network of community health centers. Through the past few years, TCCH has received federal grant funding to build a 40,000-sq.-ft. medical office in Pasco, relocate its small Kennewick clinic into a 7,000-sq.-ft. facility and set up a new 6,000-sq.-ft. health center in the city of Richland. TCCH also operates two school-based clinics.

“Our mission is to serve the underserved and underinsured,” said Valadez. “In order to better do that, we had to invest in modernizing and expanding our facility.”

Ballard said he credits the improvements TCCH has made over the past three years to Al Cordova, TCCH’s CEO and Jennifer Henry Robinson, TCCH chief operations officer.

“TCCH has experienced outstanding growth and we have undertaken new services, that has a lot of to do with Al and Jennifer and the vision that they have for healthcare in the Tri-Cities,” said Ballard.

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For more information about TCCH, go to www.mytcch.org.