Background Statement
MarillacHealth is Mesa County’s Community Health Center, providing integrated primary medical, dental and behavioral health care to 12,000 patients annually. Ours is a unique health care facility due to the integration of multiple services under one roof, coupled with a sliding fee scale. These elements combine to offer an accessible, affordable and successful model of health care for persons struggling financially.
Since opening its doors in 1988 as a safety net health clinic that served only those without insurance, Marillac has responded to the troubling gaps, barriers and disparities that prevent people from receiving health care. Our ability to do this was enhanced and expanded when we became a Federally Qualified Health Center in 2015, allowing us to expand service to insured as well as uninsured residents.
Marillac cares for patients at seven permanent locations, making it easier for patients to access care. In Mesa County, our 6th Street Clinic as well as our 29 1/2 Road Clinic co-located in the Mesa County Health Services Center provide medical, dental, and behavioral care. Medical and behavioral health care are offered at the 12th Street Clinic. One dental hygienist is embedded in a local pediatric medical facility, where they educate parents and kids, as well as screen for oral health concerns in children, fluoride varnish application on the spot and/or referring them to further treatment as needed. Acute medical and dental screenings are offered each week for persons who are unhoused at the Catholic Outreach Day Center. We also operate a full-service school-based health center at Central High School providing primary medical, behavioral health and oral health care services. The Warrior Wellness Center is open to students and staff during the school year and in summer with limited hours.
We have two recent additions to locations where we will soon serve patients with medical, dental, and behavioral health care: The PIC Place in Montrose, CO, is a nonprofit safety net healthcare clinic established in 2002 that provides care to 3000 residents of Montrose and surrounding areas. PIC chose Marillac as a partner to help sustain their services, so by the end of 2023, PIC will become a site for MarillacHealth. And in September 2023, Marillac was chosen by School District 51 to run a second health clinic located in a school, this time, in Grand Junction High School.
In addition to these locations, we provide pop-up health screening events for migrant farm workers throughout the growing season and in other locations as requested, all in an effort to make ‘getting’ health care as easy as possible.
Not surprisingly, the need for care is beyond our capacity to provide it in the current spaces in Mesa County. Simply put, we have no more room to care for more patients. That is why, for the first time in our 35-year history, we are in a campaign to build a new building. Calling the campaign “New Doors to Health”, this 26,000-SF capital expansion/construction project will open primary medical, dental, behavioral and pharmacy services to another 3,000 new patients. The care center will be located on 4.5 acres north of the existing Mesa County Workforce Center and Community Services Campus, an area already utilized by many to access health, food, and employment resources. The campus is centrally located to serve Fruitvale, Clifton and Palisade, the area where most of our patients reside, along with patients from Grand Junction and Fruita. This new building will offer all of our current services with the addition of a walk-in and drive-thru pharmacy offering discounted medications to both Marillac patients and the public. Learn more about the project and the impact it will have on our community at New Health Center Capital Campaign (marillachealth.org).
Marillac is the trusted healthcare home for many in our community. As a private, non-profit organization supported by donors, foundations, government health agencies, corporate and community partnerships, and patient revenue, Marillac has been enabled and profoundly privileged to served hundreds of thousands of individuals over 35 years--including migrant workers/families, persons who are homeless, seniors/elderly, people between jobs and proud families striving to make ends meet on modest incomes. Everyone in Mesa County deserves access to affordable, high quality health care, and that can be found at Marillac.