Down a long stretch of hallway lies colorful, comfy chairs. The walls are adorned with equally colorful artwork made from the hands of local community leaders and artists. Humming birds, bison and aunties gathered round rivers.
Sounds inviting, right? Inclusive?
Those are the core values of Tepeyac Community Health Center and it's only fitting that their new location at 2101 E. 48th Ave. represents those values.
Tepeyac is celebrating its grand opening of the space on Saturday, inviting nearby neighbors, community members, those interested in healthcare needs or just those looking to recognize the path the center took to get to this spot.
Tepeyac opened in 1995 under the name Clínica Tepeyac in an 800-square-foot space on Kalamath Street in the Highland neighborhood with just two exam rooms.
That increased to 10 rooms when it moved to a 6,000-square-foot space on Lincoln in Globeville. One room was reserved for a dentist. One space was reserved for behavioral health but sometimes it got used for other medical needs.
Now, Tepeyac lives at the base of the Viña Apartments in Elyria-Swansea. The 10 rooms are still there, in one wing of the facility, plus 10 more in an adjacent wing, plus more. The new space has quadrupled in size to about 24,500 square feet.
The one dental chair has turned into a dental suite with six additional chairs, an X-ray space and two procedure rooms. The expansion was a major ask from community members.
"It's one of the most transformational spaces," said Kristin Weber, director of major gifts for Tepeyac. "It allows us to offer much more expanded services."
Dental Director Dr. Bridget Remming echoed Weber's sentiment. With the bigger space, the staff has gone from one dentist and one dental assistant to a team of 11 with two dentists and another coming in October.
Remming said this increase allows the dental staff to reach additional patients and also motivate patients to come in for more than just aches and pains.
"It's a lot about making people feel that they are deserving of coming in for more than just pain. You deserve a smile that you're proud of," Remming said.
The new suite is also allowing new patients to come in solely for dental services. Before, Remming said there was a prerequisite that all dental patients needed to be a part of the Tepeyac system, meaning they had to have received medical care from the clinic. Now the dental program is available to anyone.
"I hope we can continue to be a resource for patients for them to get all of their dental needs," Remming said. "To continue to grow our dental services and really to not have our care be different from care that you would receive anywhere else...We want to be people's choice. No matter who you are."
Another major addition to the clinic is the pharmacy, the biggest need and want in the area.
According to Google Maps, the nearest pharmacy is a Walgreens on Colorado Boulevard, a 10-minute drive or a 44-minute walk from the center.
"When we talk about barriers to care, that's a significant one," Weber said. "In our survey about growing and asking what [members] felt was a need, this was always at the top of the list. It's certainly convenient for the patients, it's absolutely helpful for the providers and it really does increase patient access.
The access is two-fold. There's convenience and also pricing. Tepeyac is a Federally Qualified Health Center and that allows the center to offer sliding scale discounts for medication, said Pharmacy Manager Arkadiy Shnayderman.
To qualify, folks must be a patient of Tepeyac and be below 200% of the federal poverty level. For a family of four, that's an annual income of $55,500.
"It's the wow factor. Patients come to the register and they have anxiety and they're scared about the fact that they may not be able to afford their medication or they have to take steps in order to get their medication. Then you show them the prices and it's $5, $10 and they say wow," Shnayderman said.
The pharmacy is available to anyone but to qualify for discounted medications folks have to be a Tepeyac patient.
Besides these two major needs, the center also boasts a new mental and behavioral health wing, which will allow for more group therapy sessions and other forms of therapy such as art therapy and healing circles.
There's a larger medical imagery wing for ultrasounds and x-rays and a bigger lab space.
Oh, and the new artwork is from locals including Dan Luna and Arturo Garcia.
On Saturday, from 1 to 4 p.m., folks can check out the new space and also have their insurance and provider questions answered. The event will start off with Aztec dancers and a group ribbon-cutting ceremony. There will also be free food and activities.
It's just another way for Tepeyac to give back to a community they've served for about 28 years.
"We're built by the community and for the community," Weber said.
