Community Renewal Good Stories - Parlier

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Much-Needed Medical Clinic Brings Care and Jobs to Rural Area

Parlier, California, RC

Residents of Parlier will soon have access to the kinds of basic medical care that most Americans take for granted. Residents currently have to travel to surrounding cities for basic services such as filling a prescription or seeing a dentist. There is no specialty care such as obstetrics, gynecology, neonatal care, neurology, or physical therapy.

The city of Parlier has worked hard to change this. Parlier has an RC and the city has succeeded in attracting a full-service medical clinic to the city with the promise of RC benefits. The clinic will have an onsite pharmacy and will offer an array of specialty medical services, even for those unable to pay. The city has facilitated the purchase of a 3-acre site for the clinic and will expedite the permitting process for clinic construction. The project breaks ground this summer.

The cost of building a 35,000-square-foot facility with state-of-the-art medical equipment for each specialty is prohibitively expensive. In this case, the availability of the RC Commercial Revitalization Deduction benefits was a deciding factor in opening the clinic. The clinic will employ 100 people and doctors have already begun training 15 Parlier residents for permanent employment. City Manager Al Puente said, "This is the way economic development is supposed to occur. A business is attracted to an area and trains area residents to work there."

Lou Martinez, director of economic development and administrator of the city's RC, stated that the clinic is a key step in providing needed services to residents and attracting other companies to the area. A portion of the clinic will be dedicated to medical research and Martinez believes that the clinic has become the catalyst for more biotechnology investment in Parlier. The city is planning for a 300-acre biotechnology park and has letters of intent from six firms interested in relocating there.

For more information on the programs of the Parlier RC, please contact Director of Economic Development Lou Martinez at (559) 646-3545.