Local Local couple saved money to open this free health clinic in South Tacoma

Chan Hwang, left, a physical medicine and rehabilitation doctor, looks up at the work being done on a birthing room at the Blessed Hope Health Center during a tour of the space under construction on Friday, July 25, 2025, in Tacoma, Wash. The two-story building expects to offer dental, vision, and birth and child care services, as well physical therapy and a pharmacy. Liesbeth Powers / lpowers@thenewstribune.com

Key Takeaways Key Takeaways AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom. Read our AI Policy. Local doctors use personal savings to open free faith-based clinic in Tacoma.

Clinic will offer dental care, birth services, workshops and multilingual support.

Couple plans to open center by end of 2025 and address community health gaps.

Not more than a year ago, the building at 4545 S. Union Ave. was in poor condition. It was being used by squatters who broke windows to get in and littered it with syringes and drug paraphernalia.

Now, the roughly 7,500-square-foot building has new owners who are using their personal savings to transform it into a health clinic that will serve anyone, regardless of ability to pay.

“This is something my wife and I have dreamed of,” Dr. Chan Hwang told The News Tribune.

Hwang and his wife, Dr. Esther Park Hwang, are physicians who have practiced medicine in the Tacoma area for decades.

Park Hwang told The News Tribune she and her husband had been saving for many years to establish their own faith-based free clinic to offer a variety of healthcare services, preventative healthcare education and other community services.

Chan Hwang, left, a physical medicine and rehabilitation doctor, looks up at the work being done on a birthing room at the Blessed Hope Health Center during a tour of the space under construction on Friday, July 25, 2025, in Tacoma. The two-story building expects to offer dental, vision, and birth and child care services, as well physical therapy and a pharmacy. Liesbeth Powers Liesbeth Powers / lpowers@thenewstribune.com

The dilapidated state of the building provided an opportunity for the couple to purchase a property previously worth more than $3 million for a little over $1 million. However, with 10 tons of trash and debris having to be removed and black mold requiring a full renovation, Park Hwang said she anticipates having to spend nearly $3 million anyway.

The building is under renovation and is expected to be completed this fall. When completed, it will include a pharmacy, multiple dental-examination spaces, a blood lab, a physical-therapy space, a kitchen and multiple community spaces that can hold educational seminars.

Park Hwang is a practicing OBGYN, and the clinic will have birthing rooms for those who want to have an out-of-hospital birth.

“A lot of women in the BIPOC community are looking for a place to have an out-of-hospital-birth with the help of doulas,” she told The News Tribune

The couple said they are developing relationships with healthcare providers and volunteers to offer services and specialized healthcare for people who might be without health insurance.

Local health specialists including, from left, Jed De La Paz, a dentist at Bright Smile Dental, daughter Aliana, 2, Alix De La Paz, a life and wellness coach, Elida Jerez, a health director, Esther Park Hwang, OBGYN, and Chan Hwang gather for a photo outside of the future home for the Blessed Hope Health Center on Friday, July 25, 2025, in Tacoma. The two-story building, currently under construction, expects to offer dental, vision, and birth and child care services, as well physical therapy and a pharmacy. Liesbeth Powers Liesbeth Powers / lpowers@thenew

Dr. Jed De La Paz is a local dentist who is partnering with the couple to offer community dental care. His wife Alix is a health and wellness coach who is also partnering with the clinic.

Park Hwang and Hwang told The News Tribune they have also been speaking with community groups to be able to offer services in different languages.

Park Hwang has volunteered and been involved with other free healthcare clinics which operate on a first-come, first-served basis at irregular intervals. She told The News Tribune she intends for their clinic to allow appointments for patients and be open on a weekly basis.

She said such clinics can be expensive, sometimes costing $90,000 a month to operate. The couple is looking for ways to generate revenue in the meantime by offering elective IV-infusions and Botox injections.

While the process has not been a simple one, Park Hwang said they expect what they are calling the Blessed Hope Health Center to be open by the end of 2025.

Hwang told The News Tribune they conducted a neighborhood survey in the area around the building near South Tacoma Way, going door-to-door to ask people what kinds of healthcare services and community programs they needed.

They identified some of the greatest community needs to be affordable healthcare, dental care, and youth programs.

Esther Park Hwang, OBGYN, gives a tour of the Blessed Hope Health Center, under construction on Friday, July 25, 2025, in Tacoma. The two-story building expects to offer dental, vision, and birth and child care services, as well physical therapy and a pharmacy. Liesbeth Powers Liesbeth Powers / lpowers@thenewstribune.com

They will have a space for young people to do homework after school and plan to have programs to teach life and career skills. They have plans to offer CPR certification courses, certified nurse’s assistant courses, community support group meetings and cooking classes.

The physicians told The News Tribune they want to take a more proactive approach to preventive health than traditional primary healthcare might. Without pressures from corporate insurance to maximize patient loads and minimize visit times, they said they hope to be able to give more time to their patients.

Park Hwang said their mission is to break harmful cycles of behavior and lifestyles that traditional healthcare is not necessarily focused on.

“Traditional healthcare has been more about managing effects than addressing root causes,” Park Hwang said.

Through the survey, the physicians gathered the sense that the surrounding community “lacks cohesiveness.” They are organizing community programs and events intended to let families and youth know about that Blessed Hope Health Center will be a place to come together.

“Its about giving hope,” Park Hwang said. “There are lifestyles where people don’t think there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”

The lot adjacent to the building previously had an abandoned house which Park Hwang said was used and abused by squatters. The couple has since cleared the derelict structure with a vision to build pickleball courts there.

Ultimately, Hwang and Park Hwang said they believe health is more than just physical, and requires a holistic approach with attention to mental and spiritual wellbeing.

“We want to change this community to better it,” Hwang said. “So people can start trusting each other more.”