Kingsburg is the fourth site to open this year for United Health Centers of the San Joaquin Valley. Photo by Ben Hensley

United Health Centers (UHC) held a ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday at its newest location — the first UHC center in Kingsburg.

The health care center, which is the fourth UHC facility to open this year and the 28th in total, offers services in family medicine, women’s health, behavioral health, chiropractic services, as well as lab and immunization services.

It also offers nine newly renovated medical exam rooms, a behavioral health office and on-site lab services.

“I want to thank the City of Kingsburg for working with us to make this project finally come to the end, where we can start this new beginning for providing these services for the patients in this area,” said Colleen Curtis, CEO of United Health Centers.

Despite being the first UHC located in Kingsburg, the health care provider has served residents of Kingsburg before, with two offices in nearby Selma and an office in Reedley and Fowler.

“When the opportunity presented itself that we could physically open here, it was a very, very easy and quick decision to jump on that and take that opportunity,” said UHC Deputy CEO Justin Preas.

UHC has taken great steps in spreading its geographic reach, in particular throughout the pandemic, opening six new health centers in 2020, three new centers in 2021, and an additional four in 2022.

Mayor Pro-Tem Vince Palomar thanked UHC for being willing to move into the building, formerly occupied by Western Auto, noting that the city is pleased the building will not be vacant.

The building was renovated by Legacy Construction and features newly remodeled exam rooms, front office and break rooms — all easily accessible by a large parking lot.

“I think at this point Kingsurg has had three chairs of the board,” said UHC board member Nathan Williams. “Kingsburg has supported United Health Centers for a long time.”

Williams, a Kingsburg resident himself, praised members of the community for their passion for quality of life, and went on to say that paired with UHC’s quality of care, he expects the two to work very well together.

“With that, I know that we are going to be a great partnership within the community because we do care about that quality and I know that we’ll see many, many residents of Kingsburg as we expand services,” he said. “I can’t be more proud of United Health Centers and more happy to have you in Kingsburg.”

In addition to the Kingsburg center, UHC opened two Fresno locations this year, the first located at 645 S. Minnewawa Ave. with the other located at 5090 E. Church Ave., on the campus of Juan Felipe Herrera Elementary School.

A third location was opened this year in Hanford at 1545 Mall Drive, and will host its grand opening celebration scheduled for Oct. 5.