PRESS RELEASE: Groundbreaking in Sierra Vista!

-PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –

Chiricahua Community Health Centers, Inc. breaking ground in Sierra Vista on new dental facility

SIERRA VISTA, AZ (May 25, 2018) – On June 14, Chiricahua Community Health Centers, Inc. will be breaking ground on a new two-story facility in Sierra Vista. The 24,000 square foot facility will house a state-of-the-art family dental center on the ground floor with a second level providing office space for the administrative and billing departments of Chiricahua.

Chiricahua first began serving the Sierra Vista community via a mobile medical clinic in 2010, located in the west end. In 2014, Chiricahua was granted a new access point grant under the department of Health and Human Resources and had only 120 days to begin providing services to the community. The first permanent Chiricahua facility quickly proved to be too small to offer the full breadth of Chiricahua services in Sierra Vista.

Chiricahua first opened at 155 Calle Portal location in 2015 offering adult and pediatric medical services. Today, the new Chiricahua Sierra Vista Family Health Center offers a wealth of services, to include: pediatrics, adult medical, pharmacy, medical laboratory, WIC and enrollment services as well as dietetics and integrated behavioral health. Dental services have remained in the original building on Campus Drive.

While the growth of Chiricahua throughout Cochise County has been tremendous this year, there has still been a desire from Chiricahua leadership to bring all the Sierra Vista services on to one campus.

Brianna Hillier, director of dental services for Chiricahua said, “We are excited to centralize patients’ health care by joining the medical, pharmacy, and administrative teams on one main campus. Having dental services co-located alongside our existing operations allows Chiricahua to offer comprehensive care from several perspectives in one convenient location. The state of the art Family Dental Center will offer a variety of services to patients of all ages, in a beautiful new building that is well-deserved for our patients and the community.”

When discussing the desire to bring dental services to one location with Chiricahua’s other operations, it was clear the current Sierra Vista Family Health Center 155 Calle Portal building would not have sufficient room. The owner of the Calle Portal building and the land behind, Vast Real Estate Solutions, has worked with Cube Developers and Carhuff-Cueva Architects to plan an extension of the health center campus into the vacant land behind the building, soon bringing the expansion to reality.

The new dental reception area will have ample room for all patients, with a large area designated for accommodating pediatric patients and their families. The dental build-out will eventually boast 20 dental operatories, a radiology and imaging room, a small in-house dental laboratory, and space to work in unison with other Chiricahua providers and team members. More than half of the space is being designated for pediatric populations in the hope of confronting and preventing dental disease before it starts. This proximity to the medical and behavioral health teams also allows for furthering the efforts toward integrated medical and dental care.

Hillier said, “This move will also continue to strengthen the professional relationships and interdisciplinary collaborative approach Chiricahua strives for daily, further ensuring health for all.”

The public is invited and encouraged to join Chiricahua Community Health Centers for a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday, June 14, 2018, at 4 p.m. The ceremony will be held behind the 155 Calle Portal building on the lot where the construction will soon be underway. There will be a short ceremony and refreshments.

Chiricahua Community Health Centers, Inc. is a mission-driven Federally Qualified Health Center and is a tax exempt not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. It was founded as a grassroots community effort in 1996 as a makeshift clinic in Elfrida’s small community center and has since grown to be the largest primary care organization in southeastern Arizona. Chiricahua Community Health Centers currently has seven centers in Bisbee, Douglas, Elfrida and Sierra Vista and five mobile medical and dental clinics that serve vulnerable populations and rural Cochise County.

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Contact: Sarah Pacheco

Public Relations and Media Specialist

520-459-3012 ext 7525

spacheco@cchci.org