Santa Cruz Community Health (SCCH), a leading nonprofit provider of high-quality, affordable and comprehensive health services to everyone, regardless of their ability to pay, is opening a new clinic in the San Lorenzo Valley in late January.
Santa Cruz Mountain Health Center, located in the historic Wee Kirk Church Building located at Central and Main, down from the post office in Ben Lomond, will open Monday, Jan. 24, providing primary care services. Patients can call 831-427-3500 to schedule appointments.
“We strive every day to improve the health of our patients and the community,” said Leslie Conner, Chief Executive Officer of SCCH. “We are proud and excited to bring health care services to more families and individuals in the San Lorenzo Valley.”
The clinic space previously housed Dr. Steven Leib’s family medicine practice. Dr. Leib retired in September after decades of service to patients in the SLV. Leib and his wife, Vivian, restored the former Presbyterian church in 2014 which was then added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2017. SCCH is leasing the space from the Leibs.
Santa Cruz Mountain Health Center will initially operate 30 hours a week, serving approximately 2,000 patients who live in the SLV area. SCCH will be staffing the clinic with three experienced physicians and a team of support staff. Moving forward, additional services will be offered at the Santa Cruz Mountain Health Center based on patient needs.
“SLV is a remote region compared to much of Santa Cruz and it has long been underserved, “said Conner. “Our goal is to increase access to high-quality, affordable health care for this region.”
SCCH also operates the Women’s Health Center in downtown Santa Cruz and the East Cliff Family Health Center in Live Oak. The clinics offer primary care, pediatrics, prenatal care and education, mental health and substance use disorder counseling, chronic disease management, health insurance enrollment, food distribution and more. In addition, SCCH provides Covid testing, vaccines, and prevention education for its patients and community members.
SCCH also is in the process of building a new 20,000-square-foot clinic on Capitola Road in Live Oak. The project, in partnership with Dientes (building a new 11-chair dental clinic) and MidPen Housing (an affordable housing developer), will open in late 2022. MidPen’s 57 units of affordable housing will open in 2023.
About Santa Cruz Community Health
Through the Santa Cruz Women’s Health Center and the East Cliff Family Health Center, Santa Cruz Community Health (a Federally Qualified Health Center) provides comprehensive primary care services in English and Spanish to all ages, genders, ethnicities, abilities and sexual orientation, regardless of their ability to pay. Seeded by the Santa Cruz Women’s Health Center in 1974, SCCH is has maintained a 47-year commitment to its mission: to improve the health of its patients and the community and advocate the feminist goals of social, political, and economic equality. SCCH’s health centers serve nearly 12,000 patients through a dedicated staff of medical providers, nurses, licensed clinical social workers, health educators, and administrative personnel. Learn more at schealthcenters.org, facebook.com/schealthcenters or on Instagram @schealthcenters.