UC Irvine Giving Day 2025

UCI Health Federally Qualified Health Center - Serving Those Most in Need for Over 40 Years

The UCI Health Family Health Center takes great pride in caring for the most vulnerable patients in Orange County. On UC Irvine Giving Day, join us on our quest to promote health for all. With locations in Santa Ana and Anaheim, we are the oldest Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in Orange County. We have earned high accolades for our life-saving services from CHOC Health Alliance, as well as being recognized among the county's top FQHCs by the U.S. Human Resources and Services Administration in the 2021-2024 Community Health Quality Recognition program. This recognition requires that the health center excel in 19 healthcare metrics and surpass both the national and state averages. Since 1985, we have trained hundreds of medical students, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and residents in family medicine, pediatrics and obstetrics and gynecology.

In 2024, the UCI Health Family Health Center served over 29,000 patients, an increase of more than 1,600 from the previous year, with over 120,000 patient visits. The majority of our patients live below the federal poverty level and are Latino and monolingual Spanish speakers. Seventy-seven percent have Medi-Cal and six percent are uninsured. A third of our patients are children. 

Our mission is to improve the health and well-being of our patients by providing high-quality, accessible and comprehensive primary care to every member of the family, from newborns and children to teens and older adults. We have a long-standing history of delivering innovative care through group medical visits and integrative health therapies and treatments, including acupuncture and mindfulness training programs, as well as a state-of-the-art teaching kitchen. It takes an extraordinary team to provide this level of care, and we invite your partnership in sustaining the extraordinary care and resources we provide to the most underserved in our community.

Please join us this Giving Day to support the UCI Health Federally Qualified Health Center. Your donation of any amount today makes a vital difference in ensuring that our most vulnerable patients and families continue to benefit from our comprehensive programs and care.

“I am so grateful to get my diabetes under control after receiving care and treatment from the family medicine staff and providers, including culturally sensitive instruction from the nurse health educator on correct food choices. I did not know that such services existed, and I am so grateful to everyone at the FQHC.” – FQHC grateful patient

Your gift today transforms lives: 

• $150 provides a car safety seat for a family in need, ensuring children travel safely to medical appointments.
  
  
• $250 covers the cost for a patient to participate in an 8-week Group Medical Visit, led by our multispecialty physicians and teams—including Diabetes Support Groups, Obesity and Prenatal & Maternal Care Support.
  
  
• $1,500 helps cover the costs of medical supplies, vaccinations and essential staffing, ensuring no one is turned away due to financial hardship.
  
  
• $5,000 funds community-based research initiatives, expanding access to new treatments and pioneering innovative methods of delivering affordable care.

Every donation directly impacts the lives of those in need. Join us in making quality healthcare accessible to all. 

Last year, during our second Giving Day campaign for the FQHC, we raised over $17,000 from 24 gifts in support of our clinical operations and programs, which provided essential healthcare services to improve the health and wellness of thousands of underserved patients and families in our neighborhoods. 

We invite you to join us again this year to meet or exceed that goal so we can continue to serve the patients and families most in need in Orange County.

Please contact Joy Kliewer, PhD, senior director of development, at joy.kliewer@uci.edu or 310-486-9265 to learn more about the priorities of the Federal Qualified Health Center and opportunities for support.