La Clinica Cervantes Complex will have "soft" opening on Feb. 28

LAS CRUCES - La Clinica de Familia (LCDF) officials are about to put out the welcome sign at Central Cervantes Complex.

"Now Accepting New Patients," reads the sign and a duplicate. One will hang at the southeast corner of Alameda Boulevard and Lohman Avenue, and the other identical sign will be put up on the roof of the building, 575 S. Alameda Boulevard. The new clinic is in a building that once served as Memorial General Hospital and the city of Las Cruces' City Office Center.

Extensive renovations to the 43,000 square-foot building are almost done. A "soft" opening of the super-sized public health clinic is set for Feb. 28. A formal public grand opening is planned for May 5, when elected state leaders and members of New Mexico's congressional delegation could attend.

"We hope to serve 13,000 new patients in the first three years," said Suzan Martinez de Gonzales, LCDF chief executive officer. "By then, we also hope to have urgent care operational and the clinic would be operating 24 hours a day."

There is a whirlwind of activities at the clinic, as crews are working inside and out to get the building ready. Outside, the parking lot is being repaved, and construction is underway behind the clinic on an employee patio. Inside, there is plenty to do with tile to be laid in some areas, and furniture to installed throughout the two-story building, and its basement.

.

Each of the clinic's four wings have different color schemes. For instance, the medical wing, at the north end of the clinic's second floor, will rely on purple. Offices, classrooms, and conference rooms in the behavioral health wing, on the first floor, will have orange walls and matching materials for chairs and "bancos," benched areas where patients and their family members can sit. The clinic's expanded lobby will have a blue-colored theme,

The basement will include billing offices and amenities for clinic employees. La Clinica's call center, which averages about 100,000 calls a month, will also be in the basement.

David Martinez, vice president of La Clinica's board of directors, is impressed with the transformation of the building.

"We knew the tremendous amount of need for a public health clinic like this," Martinez said. "We saw the opportunity to acquire the building from the city of Las Cruces and we're very excited about how this building is going to be used by the public."

When the clinic begins accepting patients it will be open from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. weekdays, and from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. As funding becomes available, the clinic will expand its services to include X-ray and full laboratory facilities.

Steve Ramirez can be reached at 575-541-5452, sramirez@lcsun-news.com, or @SteveRamirez6 on Twitter.