Fire-ravaged Russian River Health Center razed

The charred remains of Guerneville’s Russian River Health Center came tumbling down Monday - the beginning of a new life for the medical facility and the 3,500 patients whom it serves.

Gutted by a suspected arson fire in December, the Third Street clinic was demolished to clear space for a temporary building that will serve as an interim clinic.

The nonprofit West County Health Centers, which operates the clinic, plans to rebuild on a different site - although it will be at least 18 months, perhaps longer, before that can happen, Executive Director Mary Szecsey said.

The rebuilding is an exciting prospect, given the expanded services the health center now provides to its patients, she said.

Built in the early 1980s, the old structure “was really too small for what we want to be able to do now,” Szecsey said.

“Health care has really changed in the last 30 years, and the building that was destroyed was really built to support the model of care that was happening back in the ’80s, which was a doctor with one or two office people and a medical assistant,” she said. “Now we’re doing things a lot different.”

In addition to primary care doctors and nurses, the clinic provides integrated behavioral health, health care educators and access coordinators who help patients get into insurance programs.

A new clinic “allows us to practice in the 21st century,” Szecsey said.

The clinic, which serves patients from several river communities, was destroyed by fire early on the morning of Dec. 26. No suspects have been identified.

The fire forced clinic staffers to improvise a bit to continue serving patients.

Most medical and primary care is being provided out of a borrowed van and a modular building on property across the street from the former clinic, where West County Health Centers operates its dental clinic.

Once demolition is complete and the site is ready, the modular unit will be moved to the former clinic site, Szecsey said.

She said insurance is expected to cover close to $1 million toward replacement of the clinic, but that the agency would have to raise several times that much in order to rebuild.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MaryCallahanB.