Healdsburg Kiwanis: More people need to know about Alliance Medical Center

More people in Healdsburg need to know about Alliance Medical Center's low-cost services, town leaders said this week.

 "Alliance Medical center has proven to be a cost effective solution for many Sonoma County families," said Albert "Pete" Peterson, treasurer of "We are currently preparing to help fund their teen health center in Windsor to serve all the youth of our community."

Alliance Medical Center was founded in 1971 by community volunteers who saw a need for a clinic to serve migrant farm workers.

Since that time, Alliance Medical Center has grown steadily. They have always served all members of the community; the unforeseen thing in 1971 was that, in 2011, there would be a never-before-seen demand for good and affordable healthcare for most Americans. 

“The new face on the healthcare frontier is the unemployed, blue collar head of household in Sonoma County,” according to Healdsburg civic leader Ray Holley in a recent presentation to the Healdsburg Kiwanis Club.  

Alliance Medical Center, which has offices in Healdsburg and Windsor, offers treatmen, for a very wide variety of medical needs.

Those include:  medical care, dental services, diabetes management, pediatrics, immunizations, dermatology, family planning, psychology, behavioral health, chiropractic, podiatry, and more.

Alliance is a de factor center safety net for our community in that it provides low-cost care to everyone. Contrary to popular belief, these centers are not focused on the Latino sector of our population.

According to information supplied at the Kiwanis club, other communities without  options like the Alliance Medical Center suffer.

People who are at risk have to rely on local hospitals emergency rooms. When you have a lot of people showing up at these facilities for migraines, allergies or severe hangovers, it drives the cost to operate these through the roof and is one of the major problems in our healthcare system. 

Alliance Medical centers accept all forms of insurance except Kaiser. For the uninsured, they operate on a sliding scale.

According to Alliance Medical Center staff, their next big project on the horizon for  will be their senior care programs. That is great news, since they are already well known for their teen programs.