Community Health Care
West Side Community Health Services (WSCHS) began in 1969 when a group of Latino and Anglo community members offered free preventive health care in a church basement to Spanish-speaking residents on St. Paul’s West Side. Today, as a federally-qualified health center, WSCHS provides accessible health care to diverse communities, applying a progressive model of care that emphasizes education, prevention, and integrated services using bilingual/bicultural expertise. All services are provided on a sliding fee scale and include primary, specialty, preventive, urgent care, complementary, pharmacy, dental, OB/GYN, mental health, social and wrap-around services such as child care, transportation and assistance with health plan enrollment. Serving nearly 35,000 patients each year in 18 locations throughout St. Paul including neighborhood clinics, public housing sites, homeless shelters, and public high schools, WSCHS understands public health issues, partners with other organizations to address community needs, and advocates for public policy that helps people gain access to affordable health care and other needed services. Over 50% of our Board members represent the communities we serve, and more than 60% of our patient care staff is bilingual/bicultural. In the last 36 years, WSCHS has become an expert in increasing access to health care and related services for Latinos, Hmong, homeless people, public housing residents and adolescents.
WSCHS’ mission is caring for the health of diverse communities. Our overall goal is to improve the health of disadvantaged populations. We meet that goal by building responsive programs, enhancing our capacity, nurturing community relationships, and serving as a voice for our communities.
Keywords: community health center, community health, healthcare, dental services, pharmacy, mental health services, social services, St. Paul, St. Paul's West Side, Ramsey County health providers, HIV program