Seaside Family Health Center celebrating 25th anniversary

The Seaside Family Health Center is celebrating 25 years of providing health care for portions of the Central Coast.

Early days of the center saw it with a staff of four people and initially named the “Broadway Health Clinic.” It was also located in a small two-module portable building.

It was just last year when the Seaside Family Health Center, as it’s now referred to, moved to an 18,000 square foot facility with about 73 employees. Serving more than 10,000 residents each year.

The Seaside Family Health Center serves a portion of Monterey County residents, addressing chronic health conditions along the way.

At this time the center is looking to expand its coverage beyond mental health service and child psychology among others. They’re looking into specialists in environmental health.

“The environmental health specialist will go to a patient’s home and check the air quality, test the soil and inspect the home to see if there’s any vermin or insect infestation, mold,” says Julie Edgcomb with Seaside Family Health Center. “They’ll then work with the patient.”

Edgcomb says based on the findings of the environmental health specialist a physician will then be able to determine how a patient can change their environment to remedy whatever their condition is.

On a national level, health center patients are served by about 205,000 professionals. 27 million people receive services from these centers while 43,000 of them live in Monterey County.

“As the community has changed, we have grown to accommodate the needs of this ever-growing community that needs healthcare help,” says Edgcomb.