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Questions and Answers about a Health Center for West Contra Costa County

Where does the County provide outpatient care in West Contra Costa County?

Contra Costa Health Services (CCHS) has two Health Centers in West County. The Center for Health, located at 1501 Third Street, in North Richmond, was opened in 1998. The Richmond Health Center, at 38th and Bissell Ave in Richmond, was opened in 1960.

What services are provided at 38th and Bissell?

A complete range of general practice and specialty medical services, a dental clinic, flu shots, immunizations, well childcare and diabetes prevention are among the services provided there.

Why does the Health Center have to move?

CCHS has eight health centers across the county. All other health centers except Richmond have been replaced or are new. CCHS has been trying to replace the one in Richmond for more than 10 years. It is an 80,000 square feet building with three floors but the basement has been off-limits for health reasons for many years. Only 50,000 sq feet are useable. Major systems including the elevators and HVAC break down frequently.

Now the City of Richmond prefers that the property on 38th and Bissell Avenue where the Health Center is located be used for commercial development. There is a developer anxious to move forward and the Health Center stands in a place that could be generating much needed revenue for city services.

What sites were considered for a new location?

Rebuild on the current site. This option had two major disadvantages: the Health Center would have to relocate while the rebuilding occurred and the size of the potential retail area would be decreased, making it unattractive to the developer interested in building there. The City would have lost a potential $1 million a year in revenue if the County remained there.
A site where Toys R Us was located. The city of Richmond wanted that site for retail, which brings in sales and property tax revenue. Also, regulations provide that site must be retail only.
A property near the downtown Kaiser Hospital or on the former Kaiser Hospital site on Cutting Blvd. There is nothing large enough to accommodate the Health Center at those locations.
A site where Kragen is currently leasing at 23rd Street south of Macdonald Avenue. This is a large enough site but Kragen did not respond to efforts to discuss relocation and any timeframe for future relocation is unknown.
Several locations at the new Civic Center in Richmond. The City Council directed staff to look at other sites.
Co-locating the Health Center on the Doctors Medical Center campus in San Pablo. This is the site the County is currently pursuing

Why has Doctors Medical Center been selected as a potential site?

The campus of Doctors Medical Center in San Pablo is just a few miles from the current site of the Richmond Health Center. Locating the Health Center at Doctors Medical Center will make it possible to share services like x-ray and laboratory testing and provide additional patients to Doctors Medical Center. That will bring revenue to Doctors and improve patient access to those services. Since the County and the community are working hard to save Doctors Medical Center, this plan benefits the whole community.

What are the details of the new location?

The new site needs to be 1.6 acres and the Doctors Medical Center location is big enough to accommodate that size. The County would build a state-of-the-art health facility that would architecturally fit into the neighborhood. The County will work with the community on the building design.

How will patients get to Doctors?

The new Health Center will be reachable by public transportation to patients from all communities in West Contra Costa.

Podcast by Dr. William Walker, Health Services Director

April 2008