Cornelius Corner

VG Cornelius is preparing to move to its temporary location** in July to make way for the August ground breaking for the new Cornelius Wellness Center.  The move won’t be easy, but clinic manager Primavera Armendariz and her staff are taking the long view.  “We believe in serving our community whole heartedly, enriching the lives of every patient,” said Armendariz.  “We expect to serve more than 11,000 patients at the wellness center – doubling what we currently can provide.”

Pictured at right, Dr. Jacobs participates in the Reach Out and Read program with a Virginia Garcia patient and his mom.

Last fall VG Cornelius held the third in a series of successful community wellness programs.  Reclaiming Your Health teaches the benefits of exercise and healthy eating and cooking.  The program was spearheaded by two Virginia Garcia physicians but the latest session was led by RN Evita Marnell.  “Our goal is to make this program sustainable.” said Armendariz, “One way to do that is to transition from a physician led to a nurse/team run program.”  In addition to a shopping trip and cooking demonstration, this session included a workout at the nearby CURVES gym.  “CURVES gave our participants a special discount and two people joined the gym to keep up  their exercise routine,” said Armendariz.  “It was a great collaboration.”

VG Cornelius piloted another program last year – outreach to Virginia Garcia patients whose children may be eligible for Oregon Health Plan coverage.  “We created what we call ‘OHP scrub’ where we look at a patient’s chart before they come in and help them with the OHP application as part of their visit.  Between February and December last year we had 950 appointments to enroll children in OHP,” according to Armendariz.  The outreach calls and follow up were all made by VG Cornelius front desk staff:  Maria Vasquez, Araceli Aquilar, Imelda Arizpe and Lucy Hernandez.  They charted their calls using Lean visual management techniques to track and display their progress.  “OHP scrub was their baby,” said Armendariz. “Now all the VG clinics are doing this.”

During flu season VG Cornelius reached out to patients identified as high risk or with chronic disease and collaborated with Pacific University to hold two Saturday immunization clinics.  “One of our patients was in tears when she thanked us for telling her about the clinic,” said Armendariz.  

** VG Cornelius location:

Forest Grove Medical Plaza

3201 19th Ave

Forest Grove OR  97116

One block north of Tuality Hospital

Please call if you have any questions (503) 359-5564