In 1975, the Virginia Garcia Health Center was dedicated to the memory of Virginia Garcia, age six, of Mission, Texas, whose short life, and death in Oregon, changed health care services to Latinos in Oregon forever. Accompanying her farmworker parents to Oregon to pick strawberries, Virginia Garcia spent her last days in a migrant labor camp near the city of North Plains. There she developed blood poisoning from a simple foot wound, and although attempts were made to treat her, the unavailability of cultural, and language appropriate medical services ultimately resulted in her death. Stunned by this tragedy, community leaders of the Hispanic and medical communities joined forces in an unprecedented effort to insure that such a tragedy would never be repeated.
Centro Cultural, a Hispanic social service organization in the area, teamed up with St. Vincent Hospital and opened the Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center in a converted three car garage on July 3, 1975.
Since the humble beginning, the center has continued to provide health care to the medically needy of Washington County for over 20 years (Yamhill County added in 1994). A private, nonprofit, health care organization, VGMHC receives funding from a variety of sources, including: federal, state, foundations, United Way, local contributions, and patient pay. It continues to focus on the needs of migrant farmworkers, both through the health center and outreach programs into the migrant camps. The center continues to develop and expand its programs to meet existing and emergent needs, and is proudly, a stable, fully established Migrant and Community Health Center with a staff of 65 medical and social service professionals. It annually provides over 25,000 medical visits to the medically needy through its Washington, and Yamhill county locations.
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