Community Health Centers of the Central Coast broke ground Thursday on a new facility in Santa Maria designed to help seniors remain living at home.
The facility, at 2100 S. Blosser Road, will house CHC’s Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), the first program of its kind serving northern Santa Barbara County and San Luis Obispo County. PACE provides coordinated medical and support services for adults age 55 or older who qualify for nursing home-level care but want to remain in their homes and communities.
“At its heart, the PACE program is about people,” CHC board president Will Gordon told the crowd Thursday afternoon. “It’s about our parents, about our grandparents, our neighbors, those who have given so much and deserve to age with dignity, compassion and respect.”
The project will renovate an existing 50,000-square-foot building that previously held a UPS call center and Mechanics Bank offices. CHC said 30,000 square feet will be dedicated to the PACE facility, which will have accommodations for up to 400 participants.
Noe Carr, CHC’s chief of PACE and senior services officer, said the program is intended to help keep seniors out of the hospital and avoid nursing home placement by providing coordinated care and support at home.
She said participants will be supported by an 11-member interdisciplinary team that includes physical, occupational and speech therapists, social workers, home health staff, transportation, behavioral health specialists and primary care providers.
“Everybody comes together to create an individual care plan for that one individual enrolling,” Carr said.
Carr said PACE can provide daytime support from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for seniors whose family members are working, giving participants a place to spend the day with recreation, games and social activities while helping them build relationships with other seniors and avoid isolation.
She said the program can also provide respite support and home health services to help families manage caregiving responsibilities and help coordinate specialty appointments.
Ron Castle, CHC’s chief executive officer, described the project as “a new model of care” for the region’s aging population.
“This project is probably one of the most important that CHC has undertaken in decades,” he said.
Construction is expected to be completed in February 2027, with the facility anticipated to open in July 2027, according to CHC.
