Golden Valley opens a second health center in Ceres

With the opening of a new nonprofit health center, Ceres residents have better access to medical care and dental services.

Golden Valley Health Centers recently opened its second site in Ceres on Memorial Drive, featuring 12 medical exam rooms and six rooms for dental care. The center, costing $3 million for the purchase and renovation of its building, will enable the nonprofit health provider to serve 8,000 more patients.

Golden Valley, which has clinics for the underserved in Merced and Stanislaus counties, showed off the 8,300-square-foot facility to dignitaries and guests during a grand opening Wednesday. The center, across the street from a former county behavioral health facility, is equipped for four primary care providers and two dentists and will employ 30 people.

A Golden Valley clinic on Third Street in Ceres will remain in service, said Mary-Michal Rawling, director of government affairs.

Family nurse practitioner Jennings Lee will start seeing patients at the new health center next week. The Modesto native and Downey High School graduate earned a bachelor’s degree in human biology at UC Merced and was trained at Samuel Merritt University in Sacramento.

Lee, whose parents are immigrants from Laos, said his family ran into cultural and language barriers when they tried to access quality health care. He can now help underserved patients to overcome those barriers, he said.

Lee is able to speak with Hmong patients in their native language. The center also has staff members who speak Spanish, Cantonese and other Southeast Asian languages.

The new center is closer to home for Esperanza Rivera, who has gone to a Golden Valley clinic in west Modesto. The 57-year-old Ceres resident said she needs medical attention for a skin condition, osteoporosis and arthritis.

“It was very nice,” Rivera said of her first visit to the new clinic. “I was well accommodated.”

In March, Stanislaus County leaders approved $9.5 million in revenue bond financing for Golden Valley construction projects in Modesto, Turlock, Empire and Ceres. The financing comes through the California Municipal Finance Authority; in addition, a federal agency awarded a $650,000 grant for operations to Golden Valley, Rawling said.

One focus is expanding dental services with additional examination rooms in Turlock, Patterson and Merced.

Bacilia Mendez, a dental center manager, said Golden Valley has gone to a Fresno residency program to recruit dentists for the clinics. A large number of adults have come in for appointments after Medi-Cal restored some dental benefits that were eliminated during the economic crisis, Mendez said.

Golden Valley has also worked to expand medical services for the growing number of people enrolled in the Medi-Cal program through the Affordable Care Act. Chief Executive Officer Tony Weber said Golden Valley is looking to establish a site in Manteca, which would be its first facility in San Joaquin County.

The Ceres site also has behavioral health services and new support groups for people who struggle with addiction. In addition to providing the facilities, staff members plan to do outreach in the Latino, Laotian and African American communities to help people overcome the stigma attached to mental illness.

This story was originally published July 28, 2016 at 7:16 PM with the headline "Golden Valley opens a second health center in Ceres."