Randy Murray has tried out nearly every kind of care La Familia Health has to offer.<\/p>\n
He first arrived at the Santa Fe organization about 15 years ago in search of grief support after the sudden death of his partner. He still sees one of La Familia\u2019s behavioral health practitioners about once a week.<\/p>\n
From there, Murray plugged into the organization\u2019s primary care services and received extensive dental work at La Familia\u2019s dental clinic. \u201cI never left,\u201d he said. \u201cThey were my stability.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Dr. Brendan Vahey, dental director at La Familia Health, works on a root canal Thursday at the clinic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jim Weber\/The New Mexican<\/a><\/p>\n Despite the stability La Familia Health offered its patients, the organization \u2014 which serves a large population of uninsured patients and people living in poverty \u2014 was on the verge of collapse in October 2023. It had only about 90 days of operating cash on hand and lost about 40% of its providers, current CEO Brandy Van Pelt-Ramirez said.<\/p>\n Things have changed in the past two years. An emergency fundraising campaign, new leadership and operational changes kept La Familia\u2019s four Santa Fe clinics open. Now, the organization is hiring new providers and expanding critical services as well as establishing new ones, like pediatric dentistry and retail pharmacy, while planning to weather the tumult facing health care providers following federal policy changes, Van Pelt-Ramirez said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have come a long way,\u201d she said. \u201cThe good news is, we are not anywhere near the situation we were in, but there seems to be these new up-and-coming challenges every single day that we\u2019re facing in health care.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018A time of rebuilding\u2019<\/p>\n Two years ago, Dr. Matthew Schmidt submitted \u2014 and then rescinded \u2014 his resignation to La Familia administrators.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a lot of turmoil,\u201d said Schmidt, who joined La Familia in 2012 right out of his medical residency. \u201cIt just didn\u2019t seem like the organization was headed in a positive direction on many different fronts.\u201d<\/p>\n At the time, a number of doctors and dentists had quit. The organization dismissed<\/a> then-CEO Julie Wright, hired about seven months earlier, after La Familia\u2019s remaining physicians, dentists, nurse practitioners and midwives voted<\/a> to establish a union.<\/p>\n After at least five years of financial losses, La Familia Health in late 2023 initiated<\/a> $2 million in budget cuts, including 17 immediate layoffs and 10% pay cuts for staff. The organization openly requested<\/a> emergency donations from Santa Fe community members.<\/p>\n Van Pelt-Ramirez, who became the clinic\u2019s interim head<\/a> in 2023 and then permanent leader<\/a> in 2024, said the La Familia leadership team was determined to keep going.<\/p>\n \u201cWe decided that we were going to see this through and figure out every way we could to become sustainable,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n A key part of that was coming up with a funding formula that would continue to serve un- and underinsured patients, Van Pelt-Ramirez said. La Familia clinics served 14,891 patients in 2025, according to the organization\u2019s data. Of those, nearly 43% were uninsured, meaning the clinics couldn\u2019t bill insurance companies for services provided.<\/p>\n However, because of La Familia\u2019s status through the Federally Qualified Health Center<\/a> program \u2014 as a safety net clinic that receives federal funds to serve medically underserved populations \u2014 it can\u2019t turn away patients who can\u2019t pay.<\/p>\n La Familia\u2019s total budget for fiscal year 2026 is $23.2 million, compared to an annual budget of $18.6 million<\/a> at the peak of the organization\u2019s financial woes.<\/p>\n According to information from La Familia, 31% of its revenue in the current fiscal year is from federal, state and local government grants, while another 31% is from patient revenue and 28% from a discount pharmacy program \u2014 which was converted in recent years from cash-only to accepting insurance coverage for medications.<\/p>\n Patients stepped up to help, too.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had patients coming in once a month, giving us five bucks,\u201d Van Pelt-Ramirez said. \u201cAll of these grassroots-level ideas is really what saved us.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Tyler Sams, right, talks with Gabriela Flores during a checkup with her 7-month-old daughter, Elliana Montano, at a La Familia Health clinic on Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n