OUR HISTORY

Since 1950, Wesley Community and Health Center has provided community programs, services, classes, activities, meeting spaces, etc., for the primarily Hispanic families residing in south-central Phoenix. For many years, the primary activities included adult English and citizenship activities (amnesty programs, etc.). With the addition of a gymnasium in the 1970s, more programs were provided for children and youth, continuing that emphasis through 2016.

Although Mother/Baby clinics were added in the 1970s/80s, the healthcare priority became more extensive in 2002. Centro de Salud health center began with volunteer physicians, primarily from the Banner Good Samaritan Hospital. These primary healthcare services and clinic began as “uninsured only”—all patients paying $20 per visit (increased to $40 after one year, when the patients commented that we should “charge more” for our excellent healthcare services). With an unexpected Federal stimulus grant from HRSA on March 1, 2009, this healthcare for “uninsured only” became a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), providing healthcare to “underserved populations regardless of their ability to pay”.