Castle Family Health Centers CEO Ed Lujano did the honors by cutting the ribbon marking the opening of the newly-constructed Winton Clinic.
Castle Family Health Centers and its partners celebrated a momentous occasion, the opening of the newly-constructed Winton Clinic at 6029 N. Winton Way in Winton. Those working together were: Kathleen McCarthy, MPA, Central California Alliance for Health; Steven Barnes, CHC Client Advocate, Neenan Archistruction; Dorothy Bizzini, Chairman of the Board of Castle Family Health Centers; Peter Mojarras, Castle Family Health Centers Chief Operations Officer; Alice Gilbertson, Atwater Branch Manager, BBVA Compass; and Ed Lujano, Castle Family Health Centers CEO.
Adriana Hernandez, newly assigned to Winton Clinic, who will be working at Registration, has worked for Castle Family Health Centers for 2-1/2 years, and Ana Udave, Registration, has been with the community health center for four years.
Castle Family Health Centers held a ribbon-cutting ceremony in celebration of the opening of its newly constructed state-of-the-art medical facility on a 2-acre parcel at 6029 N. Winton Way in Winton last week.
After the ribbon-cutting, lunch was served and guests toured the brand new Winton Clinic which houses 18 medical exam rooms, three behavioral health offices, five dental operatories and has a fully operational pharmacy.
During the event, Ed Lujano, Castle Family Health Centers Chief Executive Officer, shared how the new clinic came into being, starting with a decision by the Board two years ago that Castle had outgrown its existing Winton clinic located in a strip mall.
He said, “In March 2018, we broke ground on the two-acre site. Here we are one year later.”
Lujano explained that the project was made possible by Neenan Archistruction and the Castle Family Health Centers team which designed and built it; Central California Alliance for Health, which approved a $2.5 million grant as seed money; and the Atwater branch of BBVA Compass, which provided a $7 million loan for construction.
Castle has hired an additional 12 employees to staff the new clinic, and will hire 20 more employees, “all from the local community,” according to Lujano.
He noted that Castle Family Health Centers has grown to be a key community clinic, and commented that in 2008, its management recognized that in order for Castle to better serve the community, it needed to become a community health center.
In 2010, Castle Family Health Centers became a licensed federally qualified health center and opened a small Winton clinic, and from then to now, its budget has grown from $9 million in 2009 to $21 million currently.
Peter Mojarras, Castle Family Health Centers’ Chief Operations Officer, spoke in glowing terms about what the new facility will mean to the underserved community.
He exclaimed, “We’re extremely excited about it! Merced County does not rank where it needs to be for providing medical practitioners. For 100,000 people, we still rank toward the last. We have 45 to 100,000. It should be 80 medical practitioners per 100,000 people.”
During the celebration of the Winton Clinic, Dorothy Bizzini, Board Chair of Castle Family Health Centers, introduced the Board members, saying, “They all work very hard.”
During the event, the Winton Clinic staff was called up and recognized.
Local dignitaries in attendance were acknowledged for their support of the project, and representatives from the offices of Senator Anna Caballero, Congressman Jim Costa, Assemblyman Adam Gray, and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce spoke.
Merced County Supervisor Lloyd Pareira thanked Castle for bringing the new clinic to the “disadvantaged community”.
He said, “The taxpayers funded it, and the Castle Family Health Centers team put it together and made it happen.”
When the Times interviewed Alice Gilbertson, BBVA Compass’ Atwater Branch Manager, she described the role of the banking institution in the new project by loaning it $7 million.
Gilbertson said, proudly, “We recognized the opportunity, and what they were needing, we had programs for. We met, and tried to see who we needed to bring into the conversation. It’s about building relationships.”