After three years of planning and development, Dignity Health opened a new primary health care center in Nipomo.
“We are very excited to have another office in a growing community on the Central Coast to provide primary care support and rotating specialists that allows us to do some additional outreach,” said Dr. Scott Robertson, president of Pacific Central Coast Health Centers.
Dignity Health officials celebrated the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Monarch Village Health Center on Oct. 28, but the facility has been open to patients since August, Robertson said.
“We will typically see 20 to 30 patients [a day] right now, and we are expecting the number to get up to 40 with our two current clinicians,” he said. “Once we are fully ramped up and fully staffed, we can see up to 100 patients per day.”
The Monarch Village Health Center marks the 48th Dignity Health Pacific Central Coast office, with others in cities spanning from Templeton to Ventura. The Nipomo clinic will be able to house four to five clinicians—whether that’s physicians or physician assistants and nurse practitioners, Robertson said.
“There are 21 different medical surgical specialties, and we can bring [specialists] in on a rotating basis if we feel the need is there and we have the clinicians,” he said.
The clinic’s location gives Nipomo residents a closer facility, as they’ve been used to traveling long distances for health care services, Robertson said.
“We want to bring health care as close to patients’ homes as possible,” he said.
Along with the new health center’s opening, Dignity Health moved its call center to Santa Maria from San Luis Obispo, Robertson added.
“All the employees working in the call center lived in Santa Maria, and that’s costly from a time standpoint and a fuel standpoint,” he said.
Employees had to commute 30 or more minutes each way to get to work. By moving the facility, workers are now able to spend more time with families and less time on the roads, he said.
One challenge Monarch Village Health Center still faces is sourcing medical furniture, Robertson said.
“There’s been tremendous supply chain disruption, specifically with medical furniture. We are quoted 16 to 20 weeks to get exam tables,” he said. “Prior it was two to three weeks.”
This resulted in “impactful” delays in fully opening the center, but because it’s part of Dignity Health, the clinic received some furniture that was in storage at other centers. The clinic won’t use any equipment that would compromise patient or employee safety, Robertson said.
“It’s very different from anything that’s happened over the last 15 to 20 years,” Robertson said.
“We are just trying to be the squeaky wheel with vendors to be as close to the front of the line [as possible] and make sure we are meeting our deadlines so we can continue the expansion of our services,” he continued.
Through supply chain issues, the clinic continues to recruit additional clinicians to fully staff the offices and assess community needs to find specialty services best suited for Nipomo residents, he said.
“This is health care. It’s complicated and especially complicated in a medical emergency, but I have extreme confidence that our medical team will provide great services to our patients,” Robertson said.
The Monarch Village Health Center is located at 1560 Mesa Road, Nipomo. Its hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and appointments can be made by calling (805) 614-5640.
Highlight
• National grocery store brand ALDI is opening its first store in Santa Maria on Nov. 11 as part of the retailer’s expansion plan to open 100 new stores in 2021 across the country. ALDI operates more than 2,000 grocery stores in 37 states, and is on track to become the third largest U.S. grocery retailer by the end of 2022. All ALDI stores are designed to have 12,000 square feet of retail space, providing easy navigation along with natural lighting, and they’re built with environmentally friendly materials. The company’s business model offers customers high-quality products with affordable prices. This year, ALDI plans to further expand curbside grocery pickup service to 500 more stores, bringing the total number of curbside locations to more than 1,200. Visit shop.aldi.us to learn more.
Staff Writer Taylor O’Connor wrote this week’s Spotlight. Reach her at toconnor@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Nov 11-18, 2021.