East Salem clinic to open classroom space for support groups, literacy and citizenship classes

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Once construction finishes, and the dust is long-gone, an east Salem clinic will be home to a space for soon-to-be parents, people recovering from addiction and those studying for citizenship.

The space inside the WFMC Health clinic will be a large classroom that hosts programs that meet needs for the clinic’s 15,000 patients, most of whom are low-income, and many of whom are bilingual.

Thanks to a recent grant from the Willamette Health Council, the clinic will have the classroom built and functional by the end of this year, according to special programs manager Prashanthi Kaveti.

The classroom will make health care more accessible and comprehensive for local communities by providing resources specific to community needs and expanding available services through other organizations.

The Willamette Health Council last year distributed almost $3 million in grants to community agencies for work in behavioral health, homelessness and families and youth.

Last October, the council awarded WFMC Health with $100,000 to help build the classroom.

“It’s just a need that our community needs to have, and so it’s exciting that we get to have this,” Kaveti said.

Initially known as the Willamette Family Medical Center, WFMC Health has been providing community health care in the Four Corners neighborhood since 1995. It started with just three doctors.

Now with dozens of staff, the center, located at 435 Lancaster Dr. N.E., continues to provide primary care, behavioral health services and programs for parents and children. It’s a certified patient-centered provider.

The center’s patients are nearly all on the state’s Medicaid program, the Oregon Health Plan, according to Kaveti.

“We’re a large provider for our Medicaid patients, and part of this grant is because we recognize that there is a huge access to care issue, and it’s difficult when we have such a shortage of providers right now,” Kaveti said.

A majority of WFMC Health providers, nine total, are bilingual, according to Nancy King who oversees the center’s outreach and development services. Most bilingual staff speak Spanish, but some speak Russian, Hindi or Punjabi.

The center prioritizes providing services needed in the immediate community and the larger Salem area. 

“It’s really important for us to be part of the community and offer our physical resources as well as our social services and programs, to be able to kind of be that hub,” Kaveti said.

The new community classroom will be one of the first things patients see when walking in WFMC Health’s doors. After entering the building the classroom will be on the left, where the center’s current laboratory space is.

Once construction is finished, the room will have a small kitchen area and an exam room for checkups needed during health management meetings.

The classroom will become home to two of the center’s main programs, Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors and Centering Pregnancy. 

Abriendo Puertas, or Opening Doors, is a program for Latino parents of preschool-age children that provides information on childhood development and parenting tools. It’s offered in English and Spanish. 

The second program, Centering Pregnancy, is a prenatal support group that teaches about childbirth, nutrition and postpartum health care.

According to King, the center’s diabetes management program will also use the classroom to help expand its services.

“For 30 years, they operated without writing grants, and now it’s like, we’re in a whole new landscape,” King said. Since her start at WFMC Health six months ago, she’s helped the center apply for several grants that have helped fund children literacy programs, parenting classes and rent, transportation and food support. “I just see this is going to build and grow.”

When the classroom opens later this year, King said the center hopes to partner with nonprofit organizations to host recovery support groups and Alcoholics or Narcotics Anonymous.

The room will also be used by the center’s behavioral health team for group therapy and mental health or addiction treatment services.

“This is something that we’ve been envisioning for years and years and years, and I’ve been here 13 years now. So to see something that we’ve been really wanting to have, kind of that missing piece of our clinic, it will be really exciting to see,” said Kaveti.

Contact reporter Madeleine Moore: [email protected].

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