30 Years of History

441Patients
70 Daily Visits
13 Employees

1992

Our First Health Center Opens

Founded in 1992 by the late Linnea Hunter, we opened our first center at the original county outpatient clinic with only 13 employees. We provided medical and dental services.

MCHC began with the core values of excellence, access, community, and compassion. These values continue to be the foundation of our organization today.
As we have grown and evolved over the years, we remain committed to the idea that healthcare is a right for all people. Our doors are open to everyone in our communities.
We now provide services at four health centers in Lake and Mendocino Counties.

3,147Patients
187 Daily Visits
30 Employees

1994

New Location in Ukiah

Being designated as a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) provided funding for us to expand primary care services in underserved areas.
We moved into what was originally Hillside Hospital at 333 Laws Avenue in Ukiah. Today this is the site of Hillside Health Center. It includes our administrative offices, as well as our medical, dental, behavioral health, and women’s health services (known as Care for Her).

4,093Patients
213 Daily Visits
100 Employees

1995

Ryan White HIV/AIDS Grant Received

This is the largest federal program focused on HIV, this grant was awarded to MCHC to:

Provide HIV medical care, treatment, and support services for people with HIV.
Improve health outcomes and reduce the transmission of HIV.

8,705Patients
311 Daily Visits
125 Employees

1999

New Health Center Opens in Lakeport

MCHC opened Lakeside (now Lakeview) Health Center in Lakeport to provide primary medical care to the local community. We expanded rapidly to meet the high demand for dental, HIV care, and behavioral health services.
We purchased a van and began our “Care-a-Van” service, a health taxi to address the lack of local transportation in Lake County.

15kPatients
390 Daily Visits
159 Employees

2002

New Health Center Opens in Willits

MCHC is 10 years old!

With federal funding and support from the Frank R. Howard Foundation, we opened Little Lake Health Center in Willits, where patient visits totaled more than 20,000 during the first year.
We established Care for Her, a unique by-women, for-women service to provide more perinatal care for underserved women in inland Mendocino County.

22kPatients
500 Daily Visits
185 Employees

2007

Comprehensive Perinatal Services Instituted

We instituted the Comprehensive Perinatal Services Program (CPSP) at Care for Her. CPSP provides a wide range of culturally competent services to Medi-Cal pregnant women, from conception through 60 days postpartum. In addition to standard obstetric services, women receive enhanced services in the areas of nutrition, psychosocial and health education.
We purchased a panoramic dental X-ray unit.
During Give Kids a Smile Day, a nationwide annual event, we provided free care to 80 children who could not afford the dental treatment they needed.

24kPatients
480 Daily Visits
192 Employees

2008

Team-based Model: Integrated Medical and Behavioral Health

MCHC began integrating our behavioral health services into our medical care because we recognized that patients with the most challenges had underlying—and often untreated—mental health conditions. These collaborative efforts improved our ability to understand our patients’ barriers to health and to respond to their needs with agility. Today, we depend on cross-discipline communication to develop new treatment strategies, meeting clinical and patient goals more quickly.
Our Care for Her team topped 300 births for the year, which represented a 10 percent increase from the previous year and meant we were now delivering a third of all babies born at our local Ukiah hospital.
We significantly expanded psychiatric services.

25kPatients
502 Daily Visits
211 Employees

2009

Partnership in Lake County: Oral Health Initiative in Schools

In 2009, we became aware that Lake County residents had among the worst oral health outcomes in our state. We began collaborating with Lake County Public Health and Healthy Start to bring oral healthcare into the schools—and the Smiles Program was born. The program significantly improved children’s oral health. Today, the program continues to expand oral healthcare to families throughout all our service areas in Lake and Mendocino Counties.
We established pediatric services at Lakeview.
We transitioned from paper to electronic medical records, which helped us increase efficiency.

24kPatients
449 Daily Visits
246 Employees

2011

Care for Her Expands

Care for Her expanded and moved into its new building.
We began providing opioid dependency services at all MCHC health centers. Since 1998, when responding to addiction as a medical problem was considered revolutionary, MCHC has been at the forefront of treating opioid addiction.
We worked with community partners to shift the stigma of addiction as a crime to addiction as a health issue, collaborating with neighbors and law enforcement officers to address concerns regarding neighborhood peace and safety. For years now, we’ve watched our patients with substance use disorder regain control of their lives: holding jobs, reuniting their families, and becoming healthier. We are proud of this work and the difference it has made in many lives.

29kPatients
542 Daily Visits
279 Employees

2013

Fisher Building Declaration

MCHC is 20 years old!

We completed our $5 million federally funded capital development projects. At Hillside, we completed a new medical building; at Lakeview, we created a centralized lobby and expanded clinical pods/offices; at Little Lake, we expanded the facility to create a dedicated space for Care for Her.
To express our gratitude to Dr. Bill Fisher, a retired thoracic surgeon who helped MCHC recognize and realize our potential as an organization, we dedicated the new medical building in Dr. Fisher’s honor.

31kPatients
557 Daily Visits
286 Employees

2014

Little Lake is the first to receive national quality recognition.

The National Committee on Quality Assurance awarded Little Lake Health Center with Level 3 (top-level) recognition as a Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH), a model that uses a team-based approach to care.
Care for Her delivered half of all babies born in Mendocino County.

31kPatients
610 Daily Visits
327 Employees

2015

Planning for Growth

Our founder and CEO Linnea Hunter retired.
We purchased the property for Dora Street Health Center to expand our clinical and administrative services.

31kPatients
609 Daily Visits
342 Employees

2016

Care for Her tops 578 Births for the Year

Our women’s health team at Care for Her attended 578 births for the year; more than 70 percent of the births at our local hospital.

32kPatients
601 Daily Visits
349 Employees

2017

MCHC Turns 25!

We celebrated our silver anniversary: MCHC turns 25!

Following up on Little Lake’s award in 2014, all three MCHC health centers received the National Committee on Quality Assurance’s highest recognition as Level 3 Patient Centered Medical Homes (PCMH) in 2017. We remain very proud of this award because it demonstrates our commitment to providing quality healthcare in a manner that aligns with our values. We know that when we have the right people, the right tools, and a shared commitment to excellence, we can help our patients achieve improved health outcomes. One way we’ve done this is by actively engaging our patients in their care through expanded case management services. Case management has proved particularly effective for our most challenged populations in helping them achieve improved health and new hope. The PCMH certification also demonstrates our commitment to prevention.
We significantly expanded our pediatric care to meet the needs of the community.
We added new specialty care, including chiropractic and podiatry.
We expanded our dental service to create additional operatories.
MCHC hosted more than 60 students enrolled in career development programs, including medical assistants (MAs), licensed vocational nurses (LVNs), registered nurses (RNs), and dental assistants (DAs).

31kPatients
609 Daily Visits
370 Employees

2018

Dora Street Health Center Opens

We opened Dora Street Health Center in Ukiah, our fourth site, allowing us to continue to expand to meet the healthcare needs of our community.

31kPatients
609 Daily Visits
345 Employees

2019

Hillside Pediatrics team moves into the Fisher Building.

Our Hillside pediatric team moved into the Fisher Building, providing a split lobby for well and sick care and wonderful space for children to visit their medical providers.

29kPatients
558 Daily Visits
328 Employees

2020

COVID-19 Pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we worked with community partners to provide multiple mass vaccination events.
Our healthcare providers participated in the Mendocino Diversity Equity and Inclusion COVID-19 Working Group’s informational Public Service Announcements to explain why we need to win the race against COVID. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YONLppk700s

29kPatients
- Daily Visits
- Employees