New Sonoma County clinic named Best North Bay Health & Wellness Project
West County Health Center’s new Guerneville clinic at 16375 First St. is a 3-story, 16,000-square foot,building consolidating a variety of health services including: medical, dental, psychiatric, acupuncture, wellness, addiction, HIV and gender expansion.
There is a parking garage on the first floor, medical, behavioral health and administrative offices on the second floor and a dental clinic on the third.
The old health center was a converted residence repurposed as a community clinic in 1974. An arson fire destroyed this building in 2015. Following this blaze, dental offices were moved to the Sebastopol clinic site.
Building a health center close to the Russian River was complex project and had to conform to the latest seismic and storm standards.
“The engineering requirements were gnarly,” Ellen Bauer, chief administrative officer for West County Health Centers, told The Press Democrat. “This is the place you want to be during the zombie apocalypse or whatever comes, whether it’s flood or fire.”
GMH Builders designed and built a deep underground support system consisting of 68 drilled displacement piles to support the original foundation. Earthwork had to be vibration free to prevent any settling of adjacent properties.
Construction was scheduled around mandated seasonal work stops to minimize disruption of migrating and nesting birds. The site was within a 100-year floodplain, meaning that the first floor required floodproof construction, including rapidly deployable flood barriers at all entrances and elevators.
“The destruction of the former health center was a significant loss for a community that had already gone through many hardships,” said Jason Cunningham, West County Health Center’s chief medical officer.
After the October 2017 wildfires some residents who had lost homes in the fires around Santa Rosa moved to the Russian River area where rents were more affordable. Some of these residents were also affected by the historic flood in February 2019.
More than 3,000 patients depend on the Russian River Health Center for medical care. In 2018, the center logged 9,123 patient visits for primary care, 2,061 behavioral health patients, and 6,047 dental patients.
“For us to be able to invest in a building that will become a community resource for residents who have experienced such hardships just says something about our commitment,” Cunningham, said.
West County Health Center is a federally qualified facility allowing it to receive greater reimbursements for medical services rendered from Medi-Cal.
Significant donations have been received, but Bauer said the organization is trying to raise $9 million to pay off the remainder of the cost. Jason Cunningham, CEO of West County Health Centers, and Bauer said the west county residents, many of them among the most vulnerable in the county, have long deserved such a facility.
“My hope is that the community feels like this isn't just a building, that this is something that they can feel proud of and feel like they're using,” Cunningham said.
