Prime Health Plus Highlights Integrated Care During Grand Junction Community Health Week

Grand Junction —Kristy Schmidt stands in front of a LEGO wall featuring an anatomically correct heart. She is not building it for fun. She is explaining why Grand Junction needs a place where neighbors can get their teeth fixed, their minds treated, and their prescriptions filled without driving across town.

Schmidt is the chief development officer for Prime Health Plus. Her organization is celebrating National Community Health Center Week this week. They are one of 1,600 facilities nationwide doing the same thing. The goal is simple: highlight local primary care.

Prime Health Plus has been in Grand Junction for more than 38 years. It used to be called Marillac Health. The rebrand happened one year ago. The name changed. The mission did not.

The numbers are hard to ignore. In 2025, the center saw more than 14,000 people. Those patients made nearly 53,000 visits. The on-site pharmacy filled more than 40,000 prescriptions. That is a lot of foot traffic for one building on the Western Slope.

Schmidt calls it a "medical home." It is also a dental home and a behavioral health hub. Primary care, psychiatric med management, and an on-site pharmacy all sit under one roof. This structure matters for locals who work during the day or have kids in school. They do not want to juggle three different appointments on three different days.

"We try to be out in our community where people need us and where patients can access us very easily," Schmidt said.

This accessibility has a price tag, though not always in dollars. It is measured in avoided emergency room bills. Schmidt notes that a consistent medical home reduces the need for costly ER visits. People come in early. They get treated. They go home. They do not end up with a bill that keeps them awake at night.

The nationwide system of community health centers serves more than 52 million people. It is the largest primary care network in the United States outside of the Department of Veterans Affairs. The facility is a small part of that massive machine, but it feels large to the people who walk through its doors.

This week, the center is hosting events. The Community Food Bank’s mobile market will visit. The LEGO heart wall remains for photos and learning. These are not just distractions. They are invitations to engage with a system that has served the area for decades.

Schmidt emphasized that no one should go without care. "We’re here for our community," she said. "We want to make sure everyone can find a medical home, a dental home and nobody goes without care."

The question for Grand Junction residents is not whether the clinic exists. It has been here since long before the current name. The question is whether people are using it as their first stop, not their last resort. With 14,000 patients already this year, the answer seems clear. The doors are open. The bills are lower than an ER visit. The care is under one roof.