Our History: Building on Tradition
West Side Community Health Services (WSCHS) began in 1969
when a group of people on St. Paul's West Side established
People's Health Center in the basement of St. Michael's
Church to provide free bilingual health care for Spanish-speaking
residents. Volunteers served six or seven patients each
day. See our timeline by clicking
here. (PDF, 344K)
WSCHS has flourished since then. It incorporated and
opened its first clinic in 1972, moved to a new, larger
location
in 1983, and soon doubled the size of the facility. It
expanded its services as well, adding dental services in
1978, healthcare for the homeless in 1987, and two public
housing clinics in 1993.
In 2000, WSCHS achieved accreditation
by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care
Organizations. Responding
to the growing needs in the community, it began an effort
to expand its sites and services to serve the growing number
of patients seeking services.
In 2003, WSCHS merged with
Health Start, a nationally recognized pioneer in school-based
clinics. In 2005, WSCHS partnered
with Regions Hospital to provide comprehensive family medical
services for St. Paul’s East Side community. Currently,
WSCHS has 250 employees and over 60% are bilingual and
bicultural.
Our volunteer Board of Directors represents
the communities we serve and over 50% are patients at
our clinics.
Over the past 36 years, WSCHS has become an
expert in increasing access to health care and related
services through the
systematic breakdown of barriers related to trust,
cost, location, culture and language. |
