Salud Family Health Centers was established to serve the healthcare needs of farmworkers and their families in the Platte River Valley surrounding Fort Lupton, Colorado. The closure of a large migrant labor camp in the Fort Lupton valley due to severe environmental risks in 1969, and the resulting housing displacement, compounded the urgent health care needs of the area’s farmworkers. To address these needs and the general social unrest in the region, the Foundation for Urban Neighborhood Development (FUND), a Denver-based non-profit, worked with the University of Colorado School of Medicine to submit a proposal to the U.S. Public Health Service to establish a migrant health program. The proposal departed from conventional approaches and emphasized comprehensive, culturally sensitive, accessible and multidisciplinary care, including patient transportation and outreach services. FUND established an advisory group of local consumers to assist in implementing the project and this group became the Board of Directors of Plan de Salud del Valle, the non-profit formed to offer the services. The center opened on July 1, 1970, in a small apartment in Fort Lupton. A nearby former onion warehouse was later purchased and converted into a medical and dental facility which served as the health center’s home for over a decade.
By 1978, the health center had broadened its mission and services to include adolescent care through the New Horizons clinic in Fort Lupton, as well as dental services across the Tri-Town area of Dacono, Frederick, and Firestone. These programmatic and geographic expansions laid the groundwork for what would become a long-standing tradition of innovative and responsive healthcare delivery.
In 1980, Salud Family Health Centers began mobile outreach to better serve migratory and seasonal farmworkers. Utilizing a repurposed school bus, Salud brought essential healthcare directly to the workers. Mobile services were expanded, and in 2005, the school bus was replaced with a state-of-the-art mobile unit featuring four exam rooms equipped for both medical and preventive dental services. The health center purchased two more vans for school-based dental care in 2018, and in 2022, added another mobile unit to serve seasonal agricultural workers throughout North Central and Northeastern Colorado.
In addition to expanding mobile services, Salud added clinic locations over the years and now operates in 13 health center sites and a network of school-based locations across 11 Colorado counties, vastly extending its reach. The health center is a recognized Patient-Centered Medical Homes that provide integrated, whole- person care to nearly 70,000 people each year.
As Salud Family Health Centers celebrates 54 years of service, it continues to honor its origins while evolving to meet the needs of the communities it serves. The organization remains deeply committed to its status as a Migrant Health Center, ensuring that the farmworkers who form the backbone of Colorado’s vast agricultural industry receive the care they deserve, while caring for the broader community. Through continuous innovation and purposeful growth, Salud has built a legacy of patient-centered, high quality healthcare delivery for all.
