EL-CENTER – At the end of the first official opening week, the owners and staff of the new two-story facility, Legacy MD Medical Center, welcomed a group of government officials, stakeholders and media for an exclusive look at the healthcare innovations for the residents of the Imperial Valley.
With a total of 22 physicians, including eight specialists, the facility offers a wide range of healthcare services, from diabetic-friendly cooking tips to the new 4-D mammography machine. All this and more could be viewed on Friday, August 16, at 1699 N. Imperial Ave, a completely new building.
“This is something that was built for you, for the community. If you walk into this building and you think there’s something you think we need to provide to the community, a service you think we’ve forgotten, come and talk to us,” said Esmeralda Diaz, the CEO of Legacy MD Medical, after the tours concluded.
The facility opened for business on Monday, August 12, and is open seven days a week, Monday through Friday, from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. and on weekends from 8:00 a.m. to noon.
Friday’s tour took place, taking select individuals through the 32,000 square foot facility. While not all of the equipment is in place yet, the essentials were in place and the doors are open for business while the remaining spaces are being completed. Legacy MD staff were happy to show and tell all about the facility, which will officially open in mid-October.
Entrances are located on the north, west and east sides of the building. There are drive-thru friendly exam rooms and a drive-thru option for the pharmacy. “Whether you have insurance or not, you are welcome here,” said Alex Cardenas, board member of Vo Neighborhood Medical Clinic.
Cardenas led one of the groups on their tour upstairs, using the two elevators, and boasted about the facility’s many amenities, starting with the second floor.
“This whole floor is dedicated to specialty care. As soon as you go downstairs, you’ll be directed, but if you need to see a cardiologist or any specialist, this is the place to go,” Cardenas said, leading the group through the hospital-like facility.
The goal is to “get you in and get you out and give you all the specialized care you need in one place,” Cardenas said.
He also mentioned that the Vo Neighborhood Medical Clinic is part of an independent physician association program that has access to a variety of healthcare providers from areas such as San Diego, Yuma and Orange County, and that there are plans to send various medical specialists to the facility.
Room by room
The Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant parking lot in front of the building has at least a dozen spaces and wheelchair-accessible spots, and staff will be on-site to assist patients with legacy wheelchairs who require assistance through the doors.
Upstairs, tour visitors landed in a spacious cardiac rehabilitation room that looks like a gym and is equipped with exercise bikes, exercise benches, weights and a large Smith machine. The room wasn’t fully equipped yet, but the potential was clear. Cardenas said the room is extremely important for patients who need surgery: “When you have heart surgery… you make all this investment in your heart and have the surgery, but if you don’t do cardiac rehabilitation afterward, it’s all for nothing.”
Down the hall from the cardio center is a recreation room that can accommodate activities such as Zumba, a popular cardio dance class. Cardenas said, “We may also offer some cooking classes for diabetics. We are working with a chef right now who provides diabetic meals for Hispanics. … We may have people come in and teach them how to eat healthy despite having diabetes. We are working with a chef right now who is also a nutritionist for diabetics.”
Another room upstairs is the public education room, where Vo Neighborhood Medical Clinic staff have been able to recruit other groups to partner with the facility. “They can come in and we can talk a little bit about healthy lifestyles and habits, etc.,” Cardenas said.
From an upstairs window, tour visitors could see giant concrete slabs outside the back of the building, which Cardenas said will eventually serve as a clubhouse area. “We’re going to have pickleball tournaments, we’re going to have basketball tournaments, we’re working on a volleyball court…” He listed the outdoor possibilities.
After the tour, Dr. Tien Vo said that outdoor activities will begin next year, but the focus this year will be on indoor patient care and that he will later expand the offerings to include a gym and perhaps an indoor pickleball court.
Although Dr. Vo played a prominent role at Friday’s event and is a key figure in the operations of Legacy MD Medical Center, it is not clear what role Vo plays in the company beyond his role as a public face. He reportedly sold the company several months ago. Dr. Vo said his wife, Venus Nguyen, is listed as the owner of Legacy MD Medical Center. According to Vo’s own website, Dr. John Strong is listed as chief medical officer and chairman of the board of Legacy MD Medical Corporation, as well as president of Legacy MD Medical’s management team. Dr. Vo does not appear on either list.
See also
The ground floor is where some of the facility’s high-end equipment is located. There is a brand new 4-D mammography room and an X-ray exam room, as well as CT machines and ultrasound machines.
Around the corner was the new open MRI machine, an investment that the facility’s staff is very proud of. “They lay you down… the whole machine rotates so you’re in an upright position. Because when you’re standing, the weight is on your spine, the whole weight of your upper body. And it compresses everything. So they can see what you look like in the real world,” an X-ray technician explained to everyone who crowded into the room to see the massive machine.
Concluding remarks
Rep. Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella) attended the tour on Friday and presented Vo and his team with a certificate to mark the opening. “Today is about celebrating this great achievement, this great investment in health care that Dr. Vo and his team are driving,” Garcia said.
Other lawmakers in attendance included El Centro Mayor Sylvia Marroquin and Brawley Mayor Ramon Castro, both of whom congratulated Vo on the opening. Marroquin thanked Dr. Vo for the facility in her city, saying, “This is a one-stop shop.”
Dr. Vo said the clinic is still recruiting and interviewing, but the facility is open and operational. He knows patients will be slower to arrive in the first year, but he is not worried about that. “Next year we expect to have about 300 patients a day, and in two years we hope to have about 500 patients a day,” he said.
With 53 exam rooms and a variety of equipment, the Legacy facility could probably care for about 100 patients at a time, Vo said. “We have 12 (primary care physicians) and eight specialists. … We have cardiologists, rheumatologists, pulmonologists, podiatrists, chiropractors, general surgeons, optometrists, ophthalmologists and a therapist,” he said.
According to Vo. Dr. Strong, the doctors at Legacy MD Medical Center focus on preventive care for conditions such as heart attack, stroke, heart failure, and even problems such as cirrhosis of the liver and aneurysms. Dr. Strong is one of the doctors who is willing to work with patients.
“We want to do quality work here. … We want to show empathy. We want to make sure that everyone who comes through the door is treated like they are of value,” Strong said Friday.
