The First Federally Qualified Health Center in Palmdale

Palmdale, CA – September 28, 2010 – The Antelope Valley Community Clinic (AVCC) moved its existing Palmdale Clinic to a new larger location on September 27, 2010 and will hold a Ribbon Cutting and Grand Opening on Friday October 1, 2010 from 9:30 am to 11:30 am. At 2151 East Palmdale Blvd. Palmdale, CA   

In March of last year AVCC opened a small 7 exam room clinic at 3005 East Palmdale Blvd. The demand for services was overwhelming and we soon outgrew the location. In mid September we moved to a significantly larger facility located at 2151 East Palmdale Blvd.

The new facility has 14 exam rooms and will have space for clinical services including Pre-Natal/OB, Pediatrics, Family Medicine and Adult and Children’s Dental Clinic. It will also provide space for Education and Prevention Classes including Diabetes and Asthma. Antelope Valley Hospital’s OB Clinic will also share space and provide pre-natal care providing a continuum of care for families from pregnancy, pediatrics, dental care to older adults.   

This new location will allow us to provide 30,000 visits a year for individuals and families who are uninsured or underinsured in Palmdale and the South Valley.  

The AVCC is the first Federally Qualified Health Center Look-Alike (“Look-Alike” mean that it must comply with the same eligibility and compliance requirements as a full FQHC but does not receive an annual grant) located in and serving the Antelope Valley.   The FQHC designation allows AVCC to provide quality care at an affordable price based on a patient’s income.  The mission of the AVCC is to enhance the well-being of the community by providing comprehensive high-quality health care services including prevention and education with special emphasis on the medically underserved and low-income populations. AVCC’s goal is to significantly expand access to primary care, dental care, disease management, prevention and educational services.

In late 2005, Antelope Valley Partners for Health (AVPH), a community based non-profit created a Community Clinic Advisory Board that met to assess the health care needs and then develop a plan to address the critical lack of services.  The Task Force was comprised of community residents and leaders including:  AVPH, Care-A-Van, Antelope Valley Hospital, Lancaster Community Hospital, Kaiser Permanente, High Desert Medical Group,  Antelope Valley College, LA County DPH, Supervisor Michael Antonovich’s Office and the Cities of Palmdale and Lancaster.  The Task Force concluded that to best meet the health needs of the community, a new non-profit governed by local residents was necessary to ensure that the best interests of the community were being served.

In March 2007 AVCC was incorporated and in less than 3 years AVCC will have gone from providing 3,200 visits a year to 30,000 visits by the end of 2010 and 50,000 by the end of 2011 through its Palmdale, Lancaster and mobile clinics.