5 years after closures and temporary usage, health center will open again

Santa Clara County Valley Healthcare is reopening a newly revamped health care center in the historically underserved South County after the site faced closure and years of reduced capacity.

Valley Healthcare Center Morgan Hill, formally known as De Paul Health Center, will begin operating Monday and is set to expand primary care and urgent care services for the region.

“The opening of VHC Morgan Hill is a remarkable milestone in the work Santa Clara County is doing to ensure quality health care for everyone — including those in South County and the 120,000 county residents who will most directly benefit,” Sylvia Arenas, County of Santa Clara Supervisor, said in a news release. “VHC Morgan Hill will provide services for all, but it will most notably make an immediate impact for our most vulnerable residents.”

In 2019, Santa Clara County acquired the health care center on the brink of closure. Much of the center had been abandoned and stood empty for years.

“It looked like a scene out of a movie — you could see pages taped on the wall, things written on the board, like people had just walked out in the middle of a shift,” Santa Clara County CEO James Williams said. “It was a sad sight.”

Since then, the center has remained closed except for a few doctors' offices, a clinic and some beds that were opened temporarily to serve patients during the pandemic.

Angela Suarez, primary care medical director for Santa Clara Valley Healthcare, notes that the county system serves a disproportionate number of low-income, Medi-Cal, and Medicare patients, who often had to drive south to Gilroy or north to San Jose to receive care.

“It's really a big improvement for patients,” she said.

In April, the center will be adding a cardiologist, and in the future, the county plans to expand services to include pediatrics, OB-GYN, and orthopedics.

Clinic hours will be Monday-Friday from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. with hours for urgent care, laboratory, radiology, and the pharmacy being Monday-Friday from 8 a.m.-10 p.m. and Saturday, Sunday, and holidays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m.