ChapCare Celebrates 25 Years of Offering Accessible Healthcare Through Its Community Health Centers

For 25 years, Pasadena-based ChapCare has filled an important community role by offering healthcare to all Pasadenans, including the underinsured and the uninsured.

Marking their 25th anniversary on Thursday, Jan. 26, the healthcare provider has planned anniversary related events throughout the year. 

“I want to extend our thanks and appreciation to our employees, patients, and community,” Deyner Zapata, Interim ChapCare CEO, said in a statement. “Your continued confidence and trust have been essential to our long-term success, and I look forward to reaching new heights together as we embark on our next quarter century.”

Former CEO Margaret Martinez said ChapCare reached its 25th year through the hard work and dedication of staff who believe in providing patients with the highest level of customer care and satisfaction.

“That is such a milestone of Chapcare being an innovator the way it has been during these past 25 years,” Martinez said. “We’ll hopefully continue to ride that wave of innovation as we move off into the future with the technology informed, population, patients and providers in order to make healthcare delivery that much more effective and do the outcomes we need in order to make our communities healthy one patient at a time.”

Zapata said ChapCare, throughout 2023, will be taking a look at its beginnings, what they have achieved, and what their plans are for the future, through stories from our founders, patients, supporters and staff.

“In April, we will be hosting our annual Golf Tournament, and in October our 25th Anniversary Gala – events where we will celebrate our accomplishments and raise funds to support the care of those who can’t afford it,” she concluded. “We invite our community to join us in our milestone celebration.”

History of Chapcare

A group of community leaders, elected officials, property owners and neighbors of the Northwest Pasadena area decided to form the Community Health Alliance of Pasadena after seeing health inequities in the neighborhood. They wanted to create a place where they would receive the medical care they needed. 

Since 1995, ChapCare has grown to be serving not only the Pasadena area, but also Monrovia, El Monte and South El Monte.

In 2013, ChapCare was recognized as a Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH). A PCMH is a team-based model of care led by a physician who provides continuous and coordinated care throughout a patient’s lifetime.

Today, ChapCare is a network of federally-funded community health centers that provide up to 70,000 primary healthcare visits annually, Chapcare said in a release. 

ChapCare now has eight health centers in the San Gabriel Valley offering comprehensive medical services that include family and internal medicine, prenatal care, pediatrics, dental care, optometry, behavioral health, podiatry, health insurance enrollment, pharmacy and other specialty care. It has approximately 16,000 members and over 170 employees. 

Moreover, ChapCare has advocated for health equity and educating people about the importance of their health, healthcare options and breaking barriers, the organization said in a release. 

COVID-19 Pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, ChapCare began offering telemedicine, allowing patients to connect with the health centers online and access quality healthcare. 

In 2021, ChapCare opened a pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinic that was in operation for over six months. It continues to provide vaccines at the Fair Oaks Health Center in Pasadena and at the Peck Health Center in El Monte.

The organization has also received recognition from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the American Heart Association for excellence in service, as well as public relations awards for its extensive and effective COVID-19 education campaigns.

To learn more about ChapCare and its services, visit www.chapcare.org.