United Health Centers opened its 28th clinic and first Visalia location on Friday, May 26. Photo by Alex Scott

United Health Centers is continuing its expansion of services and access to care with the grand opening of its 28th location, and the first of its kind in Visalia.

Located at 4038 S. Mooney Blvd., the 17,000 square foot health center will offer optometry, dental, behavioral health and chiropractic services. The facility is equipped with 14 medical exam rooms, 12 dental treatment suites, six optometry exam rooms and three urgent care rooms with X-Rays.

According to UHC President Justin Preas, the decision to bring a UHC facility to Visalia was due to the unmet needs of the residents and in an effort to shorten travel times for patients.

“We have a lot of patients that live in Visalia that drive to our outlying locations, and that’s very difficult for a lot of people to have to travel 30 or 40 minutes, to one of our other locations,” said Preas. “So we made a commitment to serve them in their own community and that’s why we
chose this as our first location in Visalia.

Preas also shared that UHC hopes to open more locations in Visalia, and is looking to expand to other parts of the city.

For the last 10 to 12 years UHC has been growing consistently, with new locations in Reedley, Earlimart, Lemoore and Kingsburg. According to Peas, this expansion is not ending anytime soon and UHC is actively looking for new locations in other areas in Tulare County and surrounding areas. As part of this expansion plan, there is interest in providing new services such as mammography, cardiology, gastroenterology, orthopedics and more.

UHC provides a unique opportunity for patients to receive accessible care by providing multiple specialties, so patients can get multiple appointments done in one trip, said Preas. He said this helps break down barriers that make it difficult to access healthcare, as well as relieve the stress of going to multiple locations.

Preas is proud of the progress UHC has made in expanding care to underserved communities and is excited to see what the future holds for the company.

“It’s been a dream of mine to be here in Visalia because I know so many of our patients have to drive to other areas,” said Preas. “Having the opportunity to serve them in their own community is such a special thing and I’m so happy to be here for it.”