Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center

Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center is a non-profit organization that provides primary health care in Washington and Yamhill counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. Established in 1975, Virginia Garcia operates five medical clinics, five dental clinics, one women's clinic as well as six school-based health centers, and is based in Cornelius, Oregon. The organization was founded to provide medical care to migrant and farm workers and those with barriers to care. It was named after the daughter of migrant workers who died after failing to receive medical treatment for an infected cut on her foot. In 2016, Virginia Garcia had revenues of $60 million and served 45,000 patients.
In 1975, Virginia Garcia, the six-year-old daughter of migrant workers, died of blood poisoning from a cut on her foot while living in a migrant camp in Washington County, Oregon. The death was seen as preventable and blamed on the lack of available medical care and the cultural and language barriers facing the primarily Spanish-speaking migrant laborers. Due to the death, the Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center was founded by a variety of people, including Jim Zaleski, with the support of St. Vincent Hospital in Cornelius, Oregon. The clinic first opened on July 3, 1975, in a three-car garage in Cornelius. The center was originally a part of Centro Cultural, a Cornelius-based non-profit group focused on assisting the Hispanic population in Washington County.

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