UNITED COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER

United Community Health Center (UCHC) provides comprehensive primary care services in multiple far-flung locations in the Sonoran Desert in southern Arizona. The service area, the size of Rhode Island (in a county the size of Vermont) is surrounded by Tohono O’odham reservation territory to the north and west, by the Santa Rita Range (elev. 9,450) to the east and the Mexican border to the south.

Started over 22 years ago by HRSA and the University of Arizona in partnership, UCHC has become an established provider for a ten-census tract service area with a population of 47,254 (2003). Though the area population swelled by 49% between Census 1990 and Census 2000, UCHC remains the only safety net provider between Tucson and Nogales, a distance of 65 miles. UCHC’s services, targeted for the entire service area population, are under increasing demand.

The UCHC system currently includes five full service health centers: 3 in the Greater Green Valley area, 1 in Arivaca and 1 in Three Points, and five school-based clinic sites in three school districts. The Continental Family Medical Center dedicated a new 7,243 sq. ft. facility in October of 2002, built in response to exponential increase in demand.

UCHC is funded in a variety of ways: from the Federal government, Pima County and private foundations [such as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Maltz Family Foundation]. Since we are a not for profit, local giving organizations and community agencies, along with the generosity of individual contributors, also help to keep the UCHC coffers filled and our services available to all those who reach out to us for primary medical support.

UCHC offers comprehensive preventive and primary care services in response to the healthcare needs of the diverse target communities. We accept most insurance plans which provide coverage to patients who live in our service area.

UCHC is a HRSA success story.