-March 23,2020-
Hanford’s Sears Auto Center on Mall Drive closed in 2018. Now you will be able to get a personal “tune-up” at the same location with the announced purchase of the 8,800sf building by United Health Centers.
“We just closed escrow” on the property says Justin Preas, Deputy Chief Executive Officer for the Parlier-based non-profit clinic. This will be the newest site for the rapidly expanding healthcare clinic operator who already has two locations in Lemoore and soon expanding in Corcoran with the recent purchase of the old courthouse in town.
United Health began operations in 1971 in a trailer in Orange Cove and will soon grow to be 30 locations in the Central Valley.
“Today we serve around 100,000 patients in a three-county area and five years ago it stood around 30,000”says Preas.
The health care clinic has two locations in Sanger and two in Selma and is under construction on a new $1 million clinic in Dinuba that should open in June. One of their first locations they opened serving the needs of rural Central Valley residents was in Earlimart.
“What has made the difference today is the Affordable Care Act” says Preas, “with more people having access to health insurance to pay for primary and specialty care service.”
United Health is among a handful of health care non-profits to open in the San Joaquin Valley in what has become a competitive landscape.Operators include FamilyHealthcare Network who has a location now in Hanford and over 30 in the Valley. Also there is Omni Health of Bakersfield with 34 sites including sites in Visalia, Exeter and Lindsay now.
Then there is Kaweah Delta Healthcare of Visalia who has opened a number of rural clinics and recently got approval to open its first FQHC in Visalia.The ar e opening a new clinic in Tulare where Adventist Health has both a hospital and clinics.
Tulare has its own network of primary care clinics operating as Altura Healthcare. Not to be left behind, Porterville’s SierraView Hospital just announced it would open two new rural clinics in Strathmore and Terra Bella.
Preas says thanks of a cooperative agreement with University of San Francisco, United Health will soon have 17 resident docs with the USF making a big difference helping carry the load. Likewise at Kaweah Delta where the residency docs now numbering 129 with 47 incoming intern docs added each year.The hospital GME program is now partnered with USC.
Kern Schools Credit Union building branch in Tulare
Kern Federal Credit Union is building their first branch outside the Kern County boundary in the City of Tulare where they have filed building plans for a vacant building pad along Prosperity Avenue next to the Target shopping center. The branch will be located at Prosperity at Mooney. The credit union will rebrand their operation as Valley Strong Credit Union – expected to open as well in Visalia.
Dutch Bros Coffee coming to Lemoore
The US’s largest privately held coffee drive-thru is coming to Lemoore with a store to be built from the ground up.The location is the old Pioneer shopping center. Founded by Oregon dairymen in 1982 Dutch Bros Coffee now has more than 370 locations in seven western states and over 12,000 employees. Its coffee kiosks serve specialty coffee drinks, smoothies, freezes, teas, a private-label Dutch Bros Blue Rebel energy drink and nitrogen-infused cold brew coffee. A proprietary three-bean blend is still roasted to perfection from its Grants Pass headquarters. The coffee company has 8 locations in Fresno.