Valley Voice Newspaper

Tulare - This is a busy year for the growing Tulare Community Health Clinic, which has moved pediatric services into a much larger space and is developing plans to construct a complex to consolidate existing services on the northeast corner of Cartmill Avenue and Hillman Street.

Tulare Community also has welcomed a new chief medical officer and is exploring the possibility of offering new services in spaces it now occupies in The Village shopping center at 1101 North Cherry St.

The federally qualified clinic opened an escrow on six acres on Cartmill and Hillman in late 2007 and is expected to close the transaction by November, Chief Executive Officer Graciela Soto-Perez said.

“Right now we're trying to decide how big we want it, how much it will cost and how to finance it,” Soto-Perez said, adding the goal is to have a new clinic up and running by the end of 2011.

Tulare Community had hoped to open a new dental clinic in the Blackstone Professional Center this year, but that project is not moving forward so the dental clinic will now be part of the Cartmill/Hillman project, she said.

The clinic also wants to build a pharmacy on the site and would like to partner with Tulare District Hospital to have laboratory and medical imaging services as well, Soto-Perez said.

The plan is for Tulare Community to continue leasing space in The Village shopping center at 1101 North Cherry St. once the new clinic is built, so it can provide new services. “We are exploring bariatric services and a diabetes clinic,” Soto-Perez said.

‘Temporary Fix'

Tulare Community moved its pediatrics clinic in January into a new 5,067-square-foot building at 1186 East Leland Ave., which it is leasing.

“This is a temporary fix until we move [to Cartmill-Hillman],” Soto-Perez said.
Both patients and doctors seem pleased with the new pediatrics clinic, which is nearly double the size of the building at 1008 North Cherry St., where doctors saw children for four years.

“More rooms help a lot,” said Dr. Asit Shah, one of five local pediatricians who treat patients at the clinic in addition to their private practice. “It's less noisy for physicians.”

Alyssa Castrillon, who had brought then 4-month-old Jonathan Munoz to the clinic, found the building was “a little hard to find” but worth the search. “It's bigger and it's a lot nicer,” Castrillon said.

Another mother in the large waiting room agreed. “It's better, it's bigger and the playground—the kids are going to love it,” Crystal Nunez said.

The growing number of children seen at the clinic has prompted Tulare Community to recruit for a full-time pediatrician.

“There's just too many patients; our providers need help,” Soto-Perez said.

The clinic logged 83,736 visits in 2007 by 19,289 patients, about 50 percent of whom are children and teenagers, Soto-Perez said.

Only 23 percent of the youth are seen at the pediatric site, probably because the teenagers prefer to be with the adults at the main clinic in The Village shopping center.

Tulare Community had hoped to open a Teen Pact Plus clinic for youths between the ages of 12 and 20 at the former pediatrics site, but the landlord had other plans for the building, so that is on hold for now, Soto-Perez said.

New Director

In January, Dr. Inez Fabella joined Tulare Community as its chief medical officer, replacing Dr. Nauman Quershi who had left.

“She's got so many ideas and such great vision and charisma,” Soto-Perez said. “She's got a great patient bedside manner.”

Fabella and her husband Dr. Emmanuel Fabella, both internists, began practicing medicine in Tulare in November 2007. She previously worked at Daviess Community Hospital in Washington, Ind., where she garnered a national award as medical director of the rehabilitation unit.

She also worked at Harper University Hospital in Detroit and at Lockland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, training resident physicians and medical students at both places. She was also a clinical assistant professor at the Indiana University School of Medicine.

Her medical degree is from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. She did her residency at Wayne State University-Detroit Medical Center.

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