Health clinic coming to Delhi in hopes of improving health access and care

Livingston Community Health is expanding its health services to Delhi in an effort to add care options with greater convenience.

Starting in April, Delhi residents will be able to stay close to home while visiting a Livingston Community Health clinic, said Allison Jeffery, Livingston Community Health’s director of administrative services.

The clinic will offer dental, medical and behavioral health services, Jeffery said, and will be the first of its kind in the area.

“We have a lot of patients that go to other clinics from Delhi,” Jeffery said. “We know they are traveling to medical care and we realize they don’t have many medical options in the area.”

Last year, other Livingston Community Health locations served 3,200 patients from Delhi, said Isela Kloeppel, director of operations for Livingston Community Health.

“I think it is very positive we have a health center near their homes,” Kloeppel said. “Most are coming to Livingston or Hilmar (clinics). Now they have the choice to go to a Delhi health center.”

Jeffery said many county residents have limited access to transportation and there is a particular need for convenient dental service.

“There is a huge demand for it,” she added.

The site will be located on the corner of King Street and Steven Boulevard, and will have six medical and dental operatory rooms, a procedure room, counseling area and a dental X-ray machine.

Although it can be “very difficult” to bring providers to the area, Kloeppel said, they will have two dentists and medical providers at the site.

“It is a huge barrier (and a) road block,” she said. “Not everybody wants to move here.”

All of Merced County is considered a professional shortage area, according to the 2016 Community Health Assessment from the Merced County Department of Public Health, meaning there aren’t enough doctors to meet the demand.

Merced County ranks 43 out of 58 counties in the state on the physician-to-patient ratio, the assessment reports, having an average of 45 physicians per 100,000 residents.

“We are committed to expanding Livingston Community Health because we know there's a lot of unmet needs,” Kloeppel said. “As long as there are unmet needs, we try to have a community health center there.”

The Delhi clinic, like every other Livingston Community Health Clinic, will accept Medi-Cal and have a certified enrollment counselor for Medi-Cal on site.

The Livingston nonprofit health clinic was awarded an Oral Health Expansion grant by Health and Human Services, which helped with construction of the site, Jeffery said.

For more information or to schedule appointments at the Delhi clinic, residents can call 209-394-7913.

This story was originally published March 23, 2017 at 4:38 PM with the headline "Health clinic coming to Delhi in hopes of improving health access and care."