Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Health topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Columbia Valley Community Health reports growth, expands behavioral-health services
Summary
Manuel Navarro, CEO of Columbia Valley Community Health, told the Wenatchee City Council the federally qualified health center grew staff and services in the past year, enrolled more adult Medicaid dental patients in East Wenatchee, and plans a behavioral-health building and administrative expansion.
Manuel Navarro, CEO of Columbia Valley Community Health, told the Wenatchee City Council on Aug. 14 that the health center has expanded staffing and services across Chelan and Douglas counties and is continuing work to add behavioral-health capacity.
“Last year, through our 25 service sites, we served approximately a little over 38,000 unique patients,” Navarro said during the council meeting. He said about 38% of patients served reported incomes below 100% of the federal poverty level and about 16% were uninsured.
Navarro said CVCH has grown its workforce substantially; he reported the organization ended the year with about 481 full-time-equivalent employees, up from a little over 200 roughly a decade earlier. He described hiring across medical, dental and behavioral-health service lines and said the center added more than 60 providers in 2023 across those areas.
The CEO highlighted a recent expansion in East Wenatchee that increased adult dental access for Medicaid patients. “When we opened that clinic in September… by the time I checked in March, we had provided access to over 900 new adult patients on Medicaid for dental services alone,” Navarro said.
Navarro outlined near-term capital plans: a behavioral-health–focused building at the East Wenatchee campus to double behavioral-health space, and acquisition of the Craftsman Building at 910 Walla Walla Avenue to provide administrative space for billing, call center and IT functions as the organization grows. He also said a mobile clinic and clinical outreach team serve neighboring communities including Orondo, Peshastin, Rock Island and Malaga.
Council members pressed Navarro on workforce and care scope. He said CVCH provides outpatient behavioral-health and substance-use disorder services and has partnered on training pipelines, including internships and residency programs, to retain new clinicians. On inpatient behavioral-health services, Navarro said those are managed in Chelan and Douglas counties by other providers and CVCH focuses on outpatient care.
Navarro asked the council to consider partnerships with the city as the health center expands community outreach and services. The council and staff said they would continue coordination; Navarro said he will return with annual updates.
The presentation concluded with council members thanking Navarro for the report and confirming staff would follow up on potential coordination between city programs and CVCH.
