June 2, 2025
DEL VALLE, Texas—After years of progress and investment, Central Health will celebrate the grand opening of the Del Valle Health & Wellness Center from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., Saturday, June 7, marking a significant milestone for a community that has fought for equitable health care access for years. The new clinic is the direct result of passionate advocacy from local leaders, grassroots organizers and community members who refused to accept health care disparities in their neighborhood.
“Over the years, I’ve dreamed and worked for the re-establishment of a health clinic in Del Valle to address the needs of families quickly and in such a way to make them feel better about their care,” said Margaret Gómez, the Travis County Commissioner of Precinct Four. “Now we celebrate this dream come true as this facility is finally opened to everyone.”
The health center, which began seeing patients in March, provides primary care, dental services, and pharmacy access through CommUnityCare, a Federally Qualified Health Center, while Central Health focuses on specialty services, including Behavioral Health—which are expected to be added at a later date.
The organizations, along with Sendero Health Plans, combine to form the Central Health system, ultimately bringing comprehensive health care services to Travis County, including those living in the area known as the Eastern Crescent.
“This facility is very important, because a lot of the community is 90% Hispanic and they don’t have access to any health insurance or anything,” said Angelina Zarate, a community activist and owner of the Creedmoor Grocery store, located about 14 miles south of Del Valle. “This clinic, it will provide everything they need and the (doctors and nurses) will provide it in Spanish.”
Local leaders such as Vanessa Fuentes, Austin Mayor Pro Tem, have worked tirelessly over the years to facilitate new resources brought to Eastern Travis County.
“As a community advocate, I testified before the Central Health Board of Managers,” said Fuentes, who serves on District 2 of the Austin City Council. “We implored them to act, because this issue around health care equity and health care access was deeply personal.”
Central Health Board Member Shannon Jones added, “By putting the health center where people can go get health care services on a frequency in their neighborhoods, it will go a long way toward creating positive health outcomes and making a healthier community.”
Undoubtedly, there is a robust need for quality health care in Eastern Travis County. As the 2024 Central Health Demographic Report outlines, the Eastern Crescent is most often associated with health disparities, including some of the highest high prevalence rates for cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes and hypertension (high blood pressure) in Central Texas, the majority directly affecting Latino populations.
Before there was a health care facility in Del Valle, patients enrolled in Central Health’s Medical Access Program (MAP) and MAP Basic were forced to commute to the CommunityCare North Central Health Center and Central Health’s Southeast Health & Wellness Center, making the two facilities the two most-trafficked clinics over Central Health’s Fiscal Year 2023, with over 100,000 patient visits between them.
Those two health centers, along with the three-day-a-week Del Valle Health Center, were stopgap options before the state-of-the-art facility in Del Valle was built to directly cut commute times and provide excellent health care coverage for Eastern Travis County.
Grand Opening Details
10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Saturday, June 7
Central Health Del Valle Health & Wellness Center
7050 Elroy Rd
Del Valle, TX