A new Santa Clara County health clinic could be coming to De Anza College, providing healthcare access to thousands of uninsured and underinsured residents and students.
The lack of any county health clinic or hospital in District 5 is an issue that has long-plagued Supervisor Joe Simitian. His district is comprised of about one-fifth of the county’s roughly 1.8 million residents, and includes Cupertino, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Saratoga, Stanford and parts of San Jose.
In October of 2022, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors approved a Valley Health Center near the Palo Alto-Mountain View border in Simitian’s district, on Middlefield Road. The site is set to open next fall and will offer primary care, mental health, pediatrics, OB/GYN and urgent care services.
But even with the new clinic, much of the West Valley lacks close access to the county’s healthcare system, in a district where some 40,000 residents receive some kind of public assistance, according to Simitian.
“There are many folks who fall into the missing middle of health care who make a little too much to qualify for most government programs, but who don’t make enough to have first rate health insurance and or access to first rate healthcare,” Simitian said.
To fill that gap, county officials are currently studying the feasibility of the 20,000-to-25,000 square-foot Valley Health Center on De Anza College’s campus. The results of the study are set to be released next month with tentative plans for firming up the ground lease in spring 2024 and into 2025.
The addition would also take some of the burden off of the center in Sunnyvale on South Fair Oaks Avenue. Last fall, the county estimated the site sees nearly 6,000 residents a year and often had a wait time of 34 days before residents could get into see a doctor.
“I see it as a win for the student population and a win for the larger community,” said Simitian of the De Anza plan.
Officials at the Foothill-De Anza Community College District are also supportive of the proposal.
Board of Trustee President Patrick Ahrens said the health center would provide thousands of students, staff and nearby residents with easy access to healthcare, while potentially becoming a model for the more than 100 community colleges across the state. He added that the site could serve as a future location where De Anza’s nursing students could get their clinical hours without having to travel a far distance.
Both Simitian and Ahrens said they were unable to find another example in California where a county partnered with a community college to build a health clinic on the college’s land.
“We have seen an uptick in the need for not just general healthcare, but many of our students are uninsured and we’ve seen a rise in the need and the recognition for greater access to mental health services, and these are all services that the county provides,” Ahrens said. “I think this is a really great partnership idea that can better serve county residents, but at the same time get a huge group of people access to county resources in a way that’s convenient and helpful to them.”