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Project Name: Community Project Funding/Congressionally Directed Spending - Construction (CE1)
Applicant Title: EL RIO SANTA CRUZ NEIGHBORHOOD HEALTH CE
Abstract Text: El Rio plans to use the $1,450,000 approved Congressionally Directed Spending for general radiology, ultrasound services and mammography, and Dental suites (12-operatories) at the El Rio Health Northwest Health Center, which will be undergoing a large-scale two-phase renovation project between 2023-2025. Our initial earmark application was to purchase these medical supplies and equipment for a new site located on the Banner-University Medical Center South campus Abrams family medicine clinic, opening July 2022. However, since the time of that initial application, it was decided that the space El Rio will be leasing in that facility does not include the capacity to have dental and radiology services, we wish to use this funding to purchase those medical supplies/equipment for our Northwest Health Center. Currently the Northwest Health Center campus is split into two buildings – the Medical/Radiology/Pharmacy building is currently 15,200 sf and the Dental building is 3,006 sf. Our expansion plan to be completed by 2025 will include building an addition onto the existing medical clinic, and remodeling the current section, which will then include dental services on the 2nd floor. We plan to increase capacity from 34 exam rooms to 58 exam rooms, from 7 dental operatories to 12, and will increase the total footprint on the campus by 28,000 to 46,000 sf. The Director of Facilities and Executive Leadership have just begun the process of planning for this expansion project, so we do not have any architectural renderings or plans at this time. The Northwest Health Center provided care to 20,605 established patients from 6/2/2021 to 6/1/2022, in 58,837 encounters. Of those were 3,536 dental encounters. Included in the proposed budget are purchases of equipment like panoramic radiology, power vacuum, sterilization autoclave, and water system for dental; ultrasound; and 3D Mammography unit. Also budgeted are medical and dental supplies including medical grade refrigerators and freezers, office furniture for clinical areas, and computers for dental, radiology, and ultrasound services. El Rio Health is a federally qualified health center (FQHC), is Joint Commission accredited, and has achieved Level 3 patient-centered medical home (PCMH) status from the National Committee for Quality Assurance. These accreditations recognize our community-based healthcare model reflective of our medical/health home concept utilizing an interdisciplinary team of healthcare providers and professionals. As a PCMH, we consistently strive to meet all the health needs of all our patients, including addressing their oral health and radiology needs, within fully integrated facilities.