Editor's Note:

This is the first in a series of stories about local changes in health care resulting from the federal Affordable Care Act. Today: Expansion plans.

By Jondi Gumz

SANTA CRUZ -- New medical clinics, expansion of existing clinics and more than 70 new jobs are on the horizon as local officials prepare for an influx nine months from now of people with health insurance who previously had gone without.

The push comes from a federal health overhaul championed by President Obama and slated to take effect Jan. 1. With the mandate for individual health insurance, many people will either be covered by a state program or encouraged to buy coverage. Some will qualify for a subsidy depending on their income.

Salud Para La Gente is embarking on a $5 million project to serve 2,000 more patients, renovating its main clinic in Watsonville to add 13 rooms for medical exams and four rooms with dental chairs. The architect is Hibser/Yamauchi of Oakland, which has a health care specialty, but a contractor has not been selected yet.

"We intend to include local contractors wherever we can," said Dori Rose Inda, Salud's interim executive director.

Inda, who is extending her stay through June, has a new patient services manager, Dorian Seamster, former clinic manager at Planned Parenthood Mar Monte.

Salud has hired a new obstetrician/gynecologist to replace a doctor who left, and plans

"We may hire another pediatrician and possibly another family practice provider but we are completing an assessment of demand first," Inda said.

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County expanding health care facilities to meet new demands: More than 70 new jobs to be filled