Who was Virginia Garcia?
Virginia Garcia was the daughter of migrant farmworkers from Mission, Texas. Accompanying her farm worker parents to Oregon to pick strawberries, Virginia Garcia spent her last days in a migrant labor camp near the city of North Plains. There she developed blood poisoning from a simple foot wound. She received medical treatment, but because culture- and language-appropriate medical services were not available, she ultimately died. She was six years old. Stunned by this tragedy, community leaders of the Hispanic and medical communities joined forces in an unprecedented effort to insure that such a tragedy would never be repeated. Centro Cultural, a Hispanic social service organization in the area, teamed up with St. Vincent Medical Center and opened the Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center in a converted three-car garage on July 3, 1975.
Who are your patients?
In 2002:
- 81% of our patients were Hispanic.
- 52% of our patients earned under 100% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL)
- 94% of our patients earned under 200% of the FPL.
- We served over 3,000 seasonal and migrant farm workers.
- 73% of our patients had no health insurance.
What kinds of services do you provide?
Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center provides:
- Pediatric preventive visits and immunizations
- Urgent care for children and adults
- Prenatal and delivery services
- Preventive and restorative dental services
- Diabetes case management
- Migrant camp health education and outreach
Where does your funding come from?
Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center gets funding from a variety of sources. The cornerstone of the Center’s funding is an operating grant from the Federal Government. Other major funding sources are Medicaid and patient payments for services. The following table represents our funding:
| Medicaid | $4,389,121 |
|
| United Way | $64,310 |
|
| Federal Operating Grant | $2,355,120 |
|
| Government Programs | $313,240 |
|
| Patient self pay | $1,988,817 |
|
| Other | $300,392 |
|
| Corporate and foundation | $514,409 |
|
| Private insurance | $233,509 |
|
| Total 2003 Budget | $10,158,918 |
How many patients do you see?
In recent years, VGMHC has seen a constant growth in the number of patients and patient visits.
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Have your staff and annual budget grown?
Quite a bit, as shown in the following graphs. At the same time, we've expanded to five clinic sites.
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Information Sheet on Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center & Foundation
Click here to download the two page Information Sheet (in Adobe Acrobat PDF format*)
Structures
The Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center is a nonprofit corporation with 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. The center has a 15 member Board of Directors who have overall responsibility for the programs and activities. The majority of Board members are representatives of the patients who receive their health care at the Center. Other Board members are representatives from the broader business and social service community.
The Executive Director leads the Department Heads management structure which is responsible for the direct management duties of the Center. Department Heads include the Medical Director, Health Services Director, Fiscal Officer, Associate Director, Clinical Coordinator, Front Office Supervisor, and the McMinnville Site Director. This management team is responsible for ensuring that programs and services are of high quality, effective, and fiscally sound.
