County Supervisors recognize Luisa Buada for her impact on the community
SAN JOSE – Longtime community health leader Luisa Buada was honored today by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. The motion to honor Buada was made by County Supervisor Joe Simitian and was approved unanimously. The commendation recognizes Buada for her leadership at Ravenswood Family Health Network, which provides primary and preventative care services designed to reach underserved, uninsured and low-income families in northern Santa Clara County and southern San Mateo County. Buada retires as Chief of Executive Officer of Ravenswood Family Health Network on December 15, 2023.
“Two decades ago, when Ravenswood was a grass-roots health clinic operating out of a portable, Luisa was there,” said Simitian. “Since then, with her vision, know-how, and talent, she’s led the organization in opening a clinic in East Palo Alto and steering the organization through the acquisition of MayView Community Health Center clinics in Palo Alto, Mountain View, and Sunnyvale. Luisa has repeatedly stepped up when our community has needed her. Thanks to her efforts, folks in these communities continue to have access affordable health care services.”
For 50 years, Buada has been promoting health care for the most vulnerable populations, from the Salinas Valley, to Berkeley, in the East Palo Alto community, and most recently in Santa Clara County. She was the founding Executive Director of both Clinicas de Salud in the Salinas Valley and of Berkeley Primary Care Access Clinic. Buada cofounded LifeLong Medical Care in Berkeley as part of a merger with Over 60 Health Center in 1996. After serving as consultant in the creation of the Ravenswood Family Health Clinic and later becoming its Interim CEO, Buada was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Ravenswood in November 2003.
Buada received her Bachelor of Science in nursing from the University of California, San Francisco and her Master of Public Health Policy and Administration from the University of California, Berkeley.
Ravenswood Family Clinic was founded more than two decades ago in East Palo Alto to address the critical shortage of access to primary care services for low-income communities, including 10,000 patients in Santa Clara County. In 2020, Ravenswood acquired MayView Community Health Center and its three clinics in Mountain View, Palo Alto, and Sunnyvale, expanding into the Ravenswood Family Health Network. The health care organization initially served 300 patients in 2001 and now serves more than 20,000 patients a year.
Ravenswood clinics provide a comprehensive scope of health care services, including primary pediatric and adult care, dentistry, women’s health, integrated behavioral health, optometry, pharmacy, mammography, ultrasound, x-ray, laboratory services, health education and prevention, and health plan enrollment.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ravenswood rolled out a mobile clinic to administer vaccines and provide testing to communities throughout Santa Clara County.
“Thank you, Luisa, not only for your very real, immediate and recent contributions, but for decades of vision, realization and day to day commitment to health care,” added Simitian.