History
In 1980, Clinica de Salud del Valle de Salinas (CSVS) was founded by a group
of concerned local community members to ensure that basic health care was
available to all residents of Monterey County, with a focus on families working
in the agriculture industry. In 1989, CSVS became the first ”federally
qualified” health center in Monterey County, enabling it to provide health care
services to an even larger number of people who could not afford to pay for
those services. Every year since 2001, CSVS has earned the highly respected
Joint Commission Accreditation Healthcare Organization (JCAHO)’s Gold Seal of
Approval. Over the past 25 years, the award-winning CSVS has expanded to meet
the needs of its diverse community with quality care, integrity,
professionalism, mutual respect, innovation, and accountability.
Deeply committed to the community it serves, CSVS has a history of
implementing creative solutions to provide a continuum of outstanding health
care to its patients. During its first seven years of existence, the number of
patients increased significantly, and CSVS purchased a large office building in
Salinas to provide its quality medical care in 1987. In 1988, recognizing that
many patients were traveling from South County to Salinas, CSVS purchased a
building in King City, which became the first medical facility that provided
both medical and dental services in Monterey County. A decade later in 1998,
CSVS moved the medical services to a spacious building located on the Mee
Memorial Hospital campus in King City, leaving their dental office at its
original location.
By 2000, CSVS had established a system of eight clinics located in small
communities, greatly reducing travel time for their patients. Each of the
clinics provides comprehensive primary care services to families working in the
agriculture industry, including dentistry and an in-patient hospital. In 1998,
CSVS developed the first school-based clinic with a medical provider on site.
Families with children enrolled at the school access health care services more
easily in a community that may be located 25 miles away from Salinas. In 2004,
CSVS also created the first mobile medical and dental van for the homeless in
Monterey County.
In 2004, CSVS clinics provided over 112,000 patient encounters, working with
35,000 active patients. Over 10,200 newborns have been delivered since 1986. In
Monterey County’s 3,324 square miles, approximately 85% of its population now
lives within fifteen minutes of a CSVS site.
Since 1980, CSVS has become a major provider of quality primary health care
services in Monterey County by addressing the needs of people who had no access
to these services with excellent results. CSVS vaccination rates for children
are in keeping with national standards, our neonatal morbidity and mortality are
very low, and our maternal morbidity and mortality are almost non-existent. CSVS
has assembled a well-trained staff from the communities that clinics are located
in to provide quality, low-cost health care services. Our award-winning outreach
program has gained widespread recognition and support for our efforts to improve
the quality of life for farm worker families in Monterey County. Clinica de
Salud del Valle de Salinas (CSVS) looks forward to successfully continuing its
mission to provide outstanding health care services in Monterey County.
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