Brownsville Community Health Center breaks ground on new clinic

Paula Gomez had been waiting a long time. After 26 years working with the Brownsville Community Health Center, Gomez watched as shovels plunged into a vacant field on Friday morning, commemorating the groundbreaking of the center’s new state-of-the-art clinic on East Price Road.

"It’s been a long time coming," said Gomez, the executive director of the health center. "It’s a little scary, because we don’t know what the future holds. But we know that this is going to be a first-class facility."

The audience at the groundbreaking ceremony was filled with employees who work at BCHC’s five existing clinics, patients who have benefited from services, and community members who want to further the center’s legacy. As they ate tamales, fruit and pan dulce, the audience shared in enthusiastic applause and laughter as several speakers congratulated Gomez on her role in raising funds for the new clinic.

"The people we work with are more like a family," Gomez said. "When someone hurts, we all hurt. When someone is happy, it’s infectious."

Currently, BCHC currently serves about 17,000 people a year, with a total of 75,000 individual visits. Once the clinic gets off the ground, the BCHC hopes to serve about 40,000 people.

"We want people to make this their medical home," said Alix Flores, the public relations officer for BCHC. Flores said that the center charges patients on a sliding scale, according to what they can afford. The average payment is $25 per visit.

BCHC was founded more than 60 years ago, with a mission of providing quality health care to the local population. In 1977 BCHC became a Federally Qualified Health Center, meaning the center will not turn away patients regardless of their ability to pay.

Speakers at the groundbreaking had numerous examples of what the health center has meant for the community. Diabetic patients who couldn’t afford to pay for emergency room visits were able to get the treatment they needed at the clinic. Physicians have been able to treat people who live in colonias, where sewage systems have sometimes caused an increase in gastro-intestinal problems. The clinics also offer preventative care, with regular doctor-patient relationships that help manage ailments before they get out of control.

Affordable health care also means that poor patients aren’t driven into debt and despair when they need health treatment.

Gomez said the new facility would help BCHC have an even bigger impact on Brownsville.

"The community deserves it and will be better for it," Gomez said.

Current users: 17,000 people a year

Within 5 years: 40,000 people a year

Current visits per year: 75,000

Within 5 years visits per year: 150,000