Project Archives

Virginia Garcia Memorial Foundation in Oregon

A federally-designated Migrant and Community Health Center, Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center was established in 1975 to honor the memory of 6-year-old Virginia Garcia. The daughter of farm workers, Virginia died in a migrant labor camp after injuring her foot and developing blood poisoning. Today, the Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center provides linguistically and culturally appropriate primary, dental and vision care services to thousands of patients in Oregon’s Washington and Yamhill counties.

In order to improve patient care across all of its sites, Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center is implementing an integrated Electronic Health Record system (EHR).

This system will give clinicians immediate access to important information about a patient’s medical history, thereby improving their ability to make accurate diagnoses and monitor medications and treatment plans. It will also facilitate a coordinated team approach to care, thus reducing or eliminating redundancies and inefficiencies. Other benefits of EHR include improved continuity of care and reduction of medical errors and adverse events.

In support of this ambitious effort, The Regence Foundation awarded the Virginia Garcia Memorial Foundation a $100,000 grant to help pay for core components of the EHR system and staff training.