Valley health care center trying to meet the need for affordable health care

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A Valley health care center is experiencing some "growing pains". The need for affordable health care is expanding faster than the center can build more clinics.

Cynthia Stallworth takes a short walk from her home to what she calls, her second home-- the Elm campus of Clinica Sierra Vista in Southeast Fresno. "It's so convenient because I live right at the corner. I can just come any kind of emergency, I just call and they give me the right appointment."

Stallworth brings her whole family to the center, because of the level of care. "It's a warm feeling to know that people care about me. Me, and my family, and other people's families."

That's the goal of the health center which has 17 locations throughout Fresno, Kern, and Inyo Counties with plans to further expand in the Fresno area. This week, Clinica Sierra Vista held a grand opening for its newest Fresno location at Mckinley and North Fine Avenue in East-Central Fresno.

As a federally-qualified health center, one of its requirements is to centralize services to help better serve people who have hardships in securing medical care. Clinica Sierra Vista CEO, Stephen Schilling, said offering a variety of services in one location is key to serving the community. "We're dealing with families at great risk and they don't bring just one need to the table, they bring a multiplicity of needs to the table and we try to address as many of those as we can."

That's why locations like the Elm campus offer women's health and pediatrics,

family medicine and a pharmacy, a WIC office, and even dental services.

Cynthia started coming to the Elm campus when all the services were housed in one building. In just 3 years the center expanded to offer each service in its own facility to meet the growing needs of the community.

That growth continues as Clinica Sierra Vista plans to add services such as chiropractic therapy and mental health to make health care affordable and accessible in the Valley.