ABOUT US

In 1977, another community-led effort began to blossom down the road in Lafayette. Clinica Family Health—then known as Clinica Campesina Rural Health Services—was founded by Alicia Sanchez, a single mother of seven and a beloved leader in the community. Commonly called La Medica or La Madre, Alicia worked alongside hundreds of Spanish-speaking migrant farmworkers who were the heart of Boulder County’s agricultural economy.  

Alicia knew from firsthand experience the physical toll of long hours in the fields and limited access to health care. Her own autoimmune disease made farm labor difficult and her daughter tragically died after being unable to receive lifesaving treatment. She resolved to help her community anyway she could, so every week she filled her car “Susie” with those who needed care and drove them to Denver. She translated, waited for hours, interpreted medical results, and offered food, shelter, or safety when needed. But she also knew this wasn’t enough. Individuals and families deserved a place in their own community where they could receive dignified, affordable, and culturally responsive care. 

With help from local leaders and healthcare providers, Alicia transformed a small wood-framed house in Lafayette into Clinica’s first clinic. The primary bedroom became two exam rooms. The living room doubled as a waiting area, check-in desk, and medical records office. The kitchen became the lab, complete with a chicken-egg incubator used to grow throat cultures. That first year, a staff of six operated on a shoestring budget, caring for approximately 500 low-income and uninsured neighbors, including migrant families. 

As the years passed, Clinica and MHP independently continued to evolve, adapt, and expand to better meet the growing needs of the community, opening new locations in Broomfield, Longmont, North Denver, Thornton, and Westminster.  

Beginning in the 1990s, Clinica and MHP began to cross paths more regularly. Around this time, MHP clinicians began visiting Clinica locations to offer integrated mental health support for patients during their medical checkups. Likewise, Clinica providers visited MHP locations to support the medical needs of MHP clients with serious mental illness (SMI) - even if it meant using a massage table in place of a doctor’s examination table. This early partnership between two scrappy nonprofits devoted to helping people however they could would be the seed that led to more robust collaboration in the years to come. 

In 2007, Boulder County officials and Commissioners approached Clinica about merging with People’s Clinic in Boulder, a nearby community health center with a similar mission and patient population. By joining forces with People’s Clinic, Clinica was able to expand its capacity to serve the community and make medical care more accessible to individuals and families living in the City of Boulder. 

In 2010, Clinica earned the National Committee for Quality Assurance’s Level III Patient Centered Medical Home designation—a national recognition of its commitment to high-quality, coordinated care. Meanwhile, MHP enhanced its offering of behavioral health services by merging with Addiction Recovery Centers (ARC) in 2015, further strengthening the safety net for people in need of substance use treatment and support.  

This early collaboration made one thing clear: when medical, dental, and behavioral health care come together, people, families, and communities thrive. 

By 2018, MHP became a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) —the first mental health center in Colorado to achieve this gold standard in evidence-based care. That same year, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) honored Clinica as one of the nation’s Health Center Quality Leaders.

The partnership between Clinica and MHP deepened once again in 2022 when together they opened their first co-located integrated health clinic in Nederland. This partnership allowed both organizations to expand access to whole-person healthcare for people living in rural mountain communities where quality options were few and far between. 

Then, after decades of parallel work and partnership, Clinica and MHP merged in 2024 to become Clinica Family Health & Wellness—one unified, comprehensive health system built on more than 100 years of combined history. Together, we can more effectively improve health outcomes, break down barriers to health, and advocate for health equity in our community.