Axis Community Health is an award-winning nonprofit that provides comprehensive healthcare services to underserved populations in Pleasanton, Livermore, and Dublin as the only Federally Qualified Health Center. Through its five locations, Axis offers a range of healthcare services for low-income residents, including primary care, mental health counseling, substance abuse treatment, reproductive health, dental services, preventive care, and insurance enrollment. In 2022, residents made over 108,000 in-person and telehealth visits to Axis, which delivers essential services to more than 14,000 Tri-Valley residents annually.

Axis will open its sixth health clinic, located in downtown Livermore, in the summer of 2024. The clinic will accommodate an additional 5,600 clients per year and enable 20,000 visits annually. Six dental spaces, six medical examination rooms, and dedicated offices for enrollment and behavioral health services will be featured in the new location, which will double the nonprofit’s ability to provide affordable dental services in the area.

“Over the past fifty-one years, we have continuously expanded access to healthcare to better serve our community,” says Victoria Tishman Kamerzell, Director of Development and External Affairs. “The new clinic will serve as a vital one-stop destination for accessible healthcare, offering affordable dental, behavioral health, and primary care services at a conveniently central location near public transit. Axis Community Health aims to enhance the well-being of our community by providing essential healthcare services in a warm, welcoming, and accessible environment. It is anticipated to increase our capacity to provide care in Livermore by seventy-five percent and bring vital dental care to Axis patients, an area of acute necessity.”

Low-income residents may lack access to preventive care and can have higher rates of dental decay and disease as a result, notes Tishman Kamerzell. A 2016 Axis study determined that 25,000 Tri-Valley low-income residents needed affordable dental care. In 2019, Axis opened a six-chair dental site in Dublin, and in 2020 provided more than 2,800 visits for 1,700 patients. The Dublin clinic is operating at full capacity and has a waiting list of 1,200.

“The need for accessible dental care in the Tri-Valley is staggering,” according to Tishman Kamerzell. “When we opened our dental clinic in Dublin, the overwhelming response was both heartening and heartbreaking. Our upcoming clinic in Livermore represents an opportunity to double our capacity for dental services while also providing crucial primary care, behavioral health, and enrollment services.”

The nonprofit has a history of establishing and expanding services in response to community needs. The Axis Bridge program, for example, was created by Axis Community Health in July 2021 in response to the need for urgent mental health care treatment. Axis Bridge provides free, rapid access to mental health treatment to families and individuals aged five and up who live in Dublin, Livermore, and Pleasanton.

Government funding does not fully cover the operational expenses for Axis, which is able to continue delivering critical healthcare services to Tri-Valley residents thanks to individual and community donors as well as fundraising events. In 2024, for example, Axis expects to be involved in a race and other fundraising events to benefit the new Livermore clinic.

Axis Community Health became a Hacienda tenant in the spring of 2016, when the organization needed to double its capacity. “This flagship location offers space and convenience for our patients, is on a bus route, and is very central in the city,” notes Tishman Kamerzell. The Hacienda facility is home to 135 employees.

For more information about Axis Community Health, please visit www.axishealth.org, www.facebook.com/axiscommunityhealth, or www.linkedin.com/company/axis-community-health.

For more information about Axis Bridge Mental Health Urgent Care, please visit www.axishealth.org/axis-bridge-mhuc or call (925) 568-2080.