After providing affordable, quality health care to the Santa Barbara community for a decade, Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics CEO Dr. Charles Fenzi has announced his intention to retire in 2022.

“It’s been one of the most satisfying jobs I’ve ever had in my 40-year career,” Fenzi told Noozhawk. “What gets me up every morning is first the staff, and second, the people we look after who are so grateful that we are here.”

Fenzi was hired as the clinics’ chief medical officer in 2012, named interim CEO in 2015, and named official CEO in 2016.

He is a well-known face in the community and has played a vital role in helping SBNC re-establish itself as a vital link in the community and expanding its services to include dental and behavioral health clinics.

View a slideshow of Fenzi photos by clicking the white arrow on the right side of the photo above.

Before moving to the Santa Barbara area, Fenzi ran his own practice in Rozwell, New Mexico, for 27 years, he said. In New Mexico, Fenzi was the first doctor to accept a new patient from San Francisco with AIDS.

“He came back from San Francisco after contracting HIV, then AIDS, and he came home to die because it was a death sentence. There was nothing you could do about it,” Fenzi recalled. “And then all of a sudden in 1995 we had AZT. And then all of a sudden… we started treating this disease. So, I’m very proud of that.

Fenzi and his wife left Rozwell and moved to Fenzi’s family home in Santa Barbara in 2008, and he worked for the Central Coast Community Health Centers in Santa Maria before applying to be the chief medical officer of the SBNC.

In every position he’s held, Fenzi has said he loves being a family doctor.

“I did my residency (in medical school) and every time I did a new rotation, that’s what I wanted to be,” he said. “Operation? OK, I want to be a surgeon. Neurosurgery? OK, I want to be a neurosurgeon. Pediatrics, ah, that’s really cool! I want to do that.

“And then I said, how can I do all of this together? And then I ended up becoming a family doctor.

During its 10 years with the clinics, SBNC has expanded its services from its existing Eastside, Westside and Isla Vista clinics to establish new full-service medical and dental clinics in Goleta as well as two new behavioral health clinics.

SBNC has expanded its behavioral health services so that each clinic has a behavioral health specialist, “with the ultimate goal” of having primary care and behavioral health specialists providing integrated health care to patients. , according to Maria Long, spokesperson for the SBNC.

The clinics grew significantly during Fenzi’s tenure, not only in patient numbers but also in staff numbers, he said, adding that there were 92 staff when he arrived and there are currently 165 staff members.

“It’s about mission-focused staff, bilingual, bicultural, mission-engaged staff — and who are here because of the mission — is so exciting,” Fenzi said. “You walk into the clinic and, before the pandemic, the first thing you see is a bunch of smiles.”

Charles Fenzi, left, and his wife Vera with their son Stephen in an undated family photo. (Fenzi family photo)

Like many other companies, SBNC and its staff had to adapt quickly at the onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic, immediately switching to telehealth and teledental services, screening patients in their cars and dressing in protective gear. complete individual from head to toe.

SBNC staff get tested twice a week, and some appointments revert to telehealth as the highly contagious variant of Omicron circulates, Fenzi said.

Clinics acquired a building across from its Westside Clinic, and Fenzi said the goal was to construct a three-story building with dental, medical and behavioral care and a conference room.

While Fenzi expects this project to launch in the summer of 2022, by then he hopes to dedicate this site to COVID-19 testing and vaccinations.

Charles Fenzi and his wife, Vera Fenzi, in an undated family photo. (Fenzi family photo)

“The most important things we can do right now are vaccines and boosters,” Fenzi said. “I don’t know how it turned into such a political animal; it amazes me. It’s one of the safest vaccines we administer, and it’s one of the most effective. »

Fenzi will continue to work in the clinics until the council finds “the right person”, and Fenzi said he will stay until that person feels comfortable. There is no timetable yet for finding the replacement, but Fenzi said the board have set a target for mid-summer.

Fenzi said his wife was quite worried about what he would do with all his free time.

“’You’ve been working 12 hour days for the past 10 years, and you think you’re just going to go home? You will be bored to death! she told me,” Fenzi said with a laugh.

Although he plans to keep in touch with SBNC even after he retires, he said he looks forward to riding more bikes and having his sailboat refreshed and put back on the water.

– Jade Martinez-Pogue, editor of Noozhawk, can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Login with Noozhawk on Facebook.