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New Horizon Community Health Center is opening its first clinic in the Laguna Vista area in hopes of bringing high quality care to the area.
The facility held a grand opening Tuesday morning celebrating the new clinic, which is located at 723 Santa Isabel Blvd., Suite G in Laguna Vista.
The clinic hopes to address issues in the Cameron County area which currently faces a poverty rate of 22.6%, according to data from the Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities.
The healthcare company cited a 2024 Episcopal Health report which showed that 7,494 life-years were lost in the county due to health disparities in 2020. Life-years calculate the number of expected years lost due to premature or unexpected death.
“This new clinic will address these pressing issues with family medicine, lab services, and bilingual staff on hand,” New Horizon said in a news release.
The goal of the facility is to provide “comprehensive healthcare services” by expanding access to care to underserved communities which will give residents the opportunity to get the necessary treatment without having to travel to other areas for services.
The facility will not only bring healthcare services to the area but will also fill a need for medical care after a UTRGV clinic closed last December, which left some local residents concerned.
That clinic, the UT Health RGV Primary Care at Laguna Vista, had been operated by the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in partnership with the Town of Laguna Vista since 2018 before closing in late 2023. UT Health RGV and Laguna Vista officials attributed its closure to a lack of patients.
Among those who attended were Laguna Vista Mayor Michael Carter as well as New Horizon CEO Jason Wallace, State Rep. Janie Lopez and representatives of U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez and Sen. Ted Cruz.
