Officials break ground for the 31st clinic for United Health Centers in the region in Southeast Fresno Friday. Photo by Ben Hensley

Residents of Southeast Fresno will soon have another option for affordable, local health care with Friday’s groundbreaking of the 31st United Health Center (UHC) clinic located near the corner of Jensen and Cedar avenues.

The 12,300 square-foot facility is estimated to be completed in just over a year, according to UHC President and CEO Justin Preas.

Preas said the center, along with recently opened locations inside Juan Felipe Herrera Elementary School and the Minnewawa Health Center, brings the total number of Southeast Fresno’s UHC campuses to three.

“Southeast Fresno is one of the most underserved areas of Fresno for health care services,” Preas said during Friday’s groundbreaking. “UHC is honored to be part of this expansion of services in Fresno.”

The new center will offer primary care as well as COVID testing, treatment and vaccinations. It will also offer dental and chiropractic care, mental health and psychiatry services and extended hours for urgent care.

The center will also offer free transportation for patients to and from their appointments.

“This pandemic, which I truly hope we are now coming out of, stressed our hospitals to the max, with some either struggling to stay open or even closing,” he said. “Our job is to keep people out of the hospital and provide health care in their neighborhood and community.”

Preas praised UHC’s partners, including the City of Fresno, Mayor Jerry Dyer, City Manager Georgeanne White, the Fresno City Council and Luis Chavez specifically, in whose district the three Southeast Fresno UHC clinics are located.

“When we went through the pandemic, this zip code right here — 93705, 93706 and [937]27 — was designated as a COVID national hotspot, which meant that people from these neighborhoods were getting sicker at a higher rate than other areas,” Chavez said. “We always knew about those discrepancies, about those inequities here, but it was so stark to see that in our community.”

Chavez said that United Health Centers coordinated a COVID drive-thru test site that had more than 2,200 vehicles in one day to receive much-needed services.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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