A bright new future for local health care practices

Two local health-care practices that serve the valley’s community recently merged with a Nevada Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) look-alike to continue serving Pahrump and the surrounding areas. An FQHC look-alike meets all federal program requirements and can become a fully designated FQHC if it is awarded federal grant funding.

“I’m super excited that the future now remains steady for all of our clients, that they get to maintain their provider,” said Dr. Daniel Griffith, chief business development officer at Safe Harbor Medical.

Alongside Dr. Michael Taylor, a longtime chiropractic leader in Pahrump, Griffith helped start Pahrump Pain Free. Then in 2021, Griffith helped found Mind Space Mental Health.

“We worked as hard as we could and we gave back as long as we could,” he added.

Griffith recalled recent Medicaid changes impacting rural Nevada, creating a point of uncertainty for Mind Space Mental Health and Pahrump Pain Free’s futures in the community.

“We really were trying to find something that would let our legacy in Pahrump continue to support those people who either have Medicaid or who couldn’t afford health insurance that we’ve been helping out for so long,” Griffith elaborated.

After meeting Safe Harbor Medical CEO Tina Alicea through a mutual friend in the midst of that murky future, Griffith saw it not only as a chance to stay open but also as an opportunity to grow accessible health care for Pahrump.

“It [Safe Harbor Medical] meshed so well with our values and what our principles have been for the past eight years and Dr. Taylor’s principles for the past 20 years: take care of people, people will take care of you. And that’s exactly what we’ve done,” Griffith said. “Now we found an opportunity with Safe Harbor Medical that lets us continue to take care of people and they can take care of us.”

Mind Space Mental Health and Pahrump Pain Free officially merged with Safe Harbor Medical, an FQHC look-alike, earlier this month on Jan. 1. Both practices are now in the process of transitioning their name under the Safe Harbor Medical banner, but their respective services and locations remain the same.

“Dr. Griffith and Dr. Taylor could have just closed their doors. They could have tried to scramble, reduce their staff, let some of their staff go, and just take a little bit of business in, but they chose to do what was right for the community,” explained Safe Harbor Medical CEO Alicea. “Fortunately, that collaboration and that mindset really coincide with who we are at my organization.”

When speaking about the decision to merge, with all the various services they provide as an FQHC look-alike, Alicea noted that Safe Harbor Medical not only complemented Mind Space Mental Health and Pahrump Pain Free’s missions but it became an opportunity to bolster Pahrump’s health-care scene.

“We really want people to know that this is a collaboration,” Alicea said. “This isn’t some big guy coming in changing things or anything like that. We really want to invest in the community.”

Being there for the community, not leaving Pahrump, and being able to further that with the Safe Harbor Medical merge is still what reigns supreme for Griffith.

“I think one of the advantages that we have shown for our reputation is that we’re going to be here through thick and thin,” Griffith emphasized. “Now we’re going to continue and expand to see more patients and more services after we got put in a really rough spot with the change in the health-care climate, the health insurance climate.”

For the most up-to-date information about Safe Harbor Medical, visit safeharbormedlv.org.

Visit mindspacenv.com and pahrumppainfree.com for further information about the practices. Contact information for each office remains the same after the merge.

Mind Space Mental Health is located at 1151 S. Highway 160, Suite 2.

Pahrump Pain Free is located at 2280 E. Calvada Blvd., Suite 302.

Contact reporter Elijah Dulay at edulay@pvtimes.com