First Choice tries to expand healthcare services

July 16, 2009

First Choice Community Healthcare wants to expand its medical services in Los Lunas by building a new $8-million facility with the help of an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant.

“As a federally-qualified health center, we’ve been given a unique opportunity through the federal stimulus program,” said Bob DeFelice, First Choice’s chief executive officer. “The federal government has provided HRSA, the Health Resources and Services Administration, with about $1.5 billion to dispense among community health centers to strengthen their capacity to provide primary care.”

First Choice is a federally-funded healthcare nonprofit with nine medical centers in the middle Rio Grande valley, including an existing facility on Highway 314 in Los Lunas. The organization has operated in Valencia County for more than 20 years.

The Village of Los Lunas is supporting the new facility, prepared to donate land behind the village administration building on Don Pasqual Road. The facility would be within the village administrative complex, which is land leased from the State of New Mexico.

The existing First Choice facility in Los Lunas is 4,800 square feet.

“It’s very old and not large enough to meet increased demand,” DeFelice said.

The new facility would be 22,000 square feet. Exam rooms will double from nine to 18. Ten dental operatories would also be added.

DeFelice expects First Choice to handle nearly 28,000 primary care visits each year in the new facility, with an additional 12,000 dental visits. Patients vary in their income level and insurance coverage.

The grant, which First Choice will apply for by early August, would not only fund construction but also any new equipment for its expanded services.

First Choice hopes the new facility will make earlier and later hours possible for its patients.

The competitive grant funding comes from a pot of money that will assist 100 renovation and new construction projects.

“If we’re successful in securing the federal stimulus money,” DeFelice said, “the center will be open in approximately February of 2011.”

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