History

Mountain Health & Community Services (MHCS) is a private, non-profit community health
center organization providing comprehensive primary health care, health education, and social
services to residents throughout San Diego County. The roots of MHCS lie in San Diego's
Mountain Empire region, where the organization was initiated 35 years ago to bring health
care services to this 950 square-mile region. The mission of MHCS is to improve the
health and well being of the whole person.

To achieve its mission, MHCS has expanded the number of sites it operates and the variety
of services offered since opening in 1975. Today, the organization maintains comprehensive
primary care clinics in Campo and Alpine in the Mountain Empire region, in Escondido,
and in Central San Diego. MHCS also operates the Mountain Empire Community Center
in Campo. Clinical services offered by MHCS include comprehensive primary care,
physical and behavioral developmental assessments, asthma and allergy care, adolescent
health and reproductive care, immunizations, nutrition counseling, senior health care,
chronic disease management, women's health/gynecology care, perinatal care, family
planning services, health education/prevention services, behavioral health care, lab and x-ray
services, and referrals for specialty care. MHCS's Community Center coordinates a senior
meal program and a senior meal delivery program, operates a food pantry, and offers a
variety of on-site programs for residents of all ages.

MHCS provides care and services to nearly 9,000 individuals annually. The great majority
of persons accessing health care and other services through MHCS live within very modest
means, and many of these persons are uninsured or underinsured. MHCS staff members
reflect the populations served by the organization, speak the languages of patients, and
understand the struggles that patients face in meeting life's day-to-day challenges. To
better meet the needs of its patients, MHCS collaborates with a great variety of
organizations and institutions, including the Mountain Empire Collaborative, community
service groups, youth organizations, public agencies, and other health care providers.
This collaboration has proved highly effective at times of crisis such as the firestorms
of the last decade, when MHCS has played a critical role in meeting health care and
other basic needs of persons fleeing these disasters.

MHCS is dedicated to continually improving the quality of its services, and does so
through adopting new technologies, developing new programs, providing staff with
ongoing training opportunities, and learning from others in the field. Recent initiatives
include the adoption of Electronic Health Records, expansion of telemedicine capabilities,
integration of primary care and behavioral health services, development of a senior home
visitation and case management program, and initiation of a fresh food project to increase
access to fruits and vegetables and nutrition information among Mountain Empire residents.

Mountain Health & Community Services is pleased to join with other providers of
community health services throughout San Diego County in maintaining a comprehensive
healthcare safety net that serves over half a million county residents annually.

Revised 2-11