With much fanfare, the new Petaluma Health Center marked its grand opening Friday, showing off its spacious new digs that will serve up to 30,000 patients a year, many of them low-income or unemployed. The hope is that by offering preventive care to Petaluma residents, the center will reduce strain on local emergency rooms where the uninsured often seek treatment.

“This is a healthcare provider for many thousands of people who would otherwise be without healthcare,” said Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) who was one of numerous politicians in attendance Friday.

The new center is a big upgrade from its previous site on Southpoint Boulevard and will feature an expanded dental clinic, mental health services, nutrition counseling along with additional physical exam rooms.

It will also increase its focus on alternative treatments providing acupuncture, massage and Qigong, for which the center has already received national attention.

“By keeping kids healthy from early age, we will keep healthcare costs down," said Assemblymember Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael). “It’s an amazing new asset and a permanent part of Petaluma will provide accessibility, affordability and quality.”

Located on North McDowell Boulevard at Corona Road, the center comes with a $17 million price tag, $8.9 million of which was provided by federal stimulus monies. The rest of the funding came from donations from UnitedHealthcare, which gave a $620,000 grant and $5.8 million in bonds, along with St. Joseph’s Medical Center, Kaiser and the Petaluma Community Foundation. The health center relies on Medical reimbursements, co-pays and grants to fund its operational costs. 

When it’s completed, the center will be 53,000 square feet, with 44 medical exam and nine dental rooms. But beyond the and state-of-the-art medical equipment, center staff said they would remain committed to providing preventive care that will address patients’ problems early on.

“Our focus has always been on disease prevention and health promotion,” said Kathie Powell, director of the Petaluma Health Center.

One of the guests at Friday’s shindig was 27-year-old Cindy Martinez, originally from Guatemala, who has been coming to the center for seven years. “A couple of years ago they found a lump in my breast, so the center referred me to another clinic in Santa Rosa,” Martinez said. “If it wasn’t for them, I don’t know where I’d go.”

Nineteen million Americans rely on health centers, according to Herb Schultz, a regional director for U.S. Department of Health & Human Services who spoke at Friday’s grand opening. Without community clinic, Schultz said, uninsured patients who could not afford primary care would be seeking treatment in emergency rooms, increasing healthcare costs for hospitals and eventually all patients.