Jeffrey Solinas was a freshman in UC Santa Cruz when he decided to become a doctor.
In truth, that decision came in the form of a mandate, he said.
“My grandmother told me I had to be a doctor,” he said with a grin as he sat in his office in Plazita Medical Clinic in Watsonville, which he has run since 1984.
The practice celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, and Solinas and his staff—which he considers a family—plan on a celebration with the patients he has known the entirety of his career.
“I’m seeing the grandchildren of my patients now,” said the 71-year-old.
Solinas launched the clinic in the Lettunich Building, but was forced to move five years later after the Loma Prieta earthquake. He moved to another location for three years, and then to his current location at 1150 Main in 1992.
He eventually bought the place with wife Dora, who is a registered nurse and Rumba instructor.
Solinas spent two summers working in the United Farm Workers clinic in Delano, a job he said cemented his desire to serve low-income communities.
“I needed to find out for myself if you could practice medicine and do socially conscious work,” he said. “Not just put on Band-Aids, but make things better for people. I came out of that experience in Delano pretty much convinced that this was something I can do and would enjoy.”
He became a family practitioner after trying his hand at several specialties.
Solinas’ daughter Rosie Solinas grew up in Watsonville and left to earn her master’s degree in clinical psychology and bachelor’s degree in sociology.
She recently moved back home and has joined the staff with plans to add a mental health services component to the clinic.
As a young person, Rosie said she frequently grappled with being recognized throughout the community as the daughter of Dr. Solinas. That attitude has since evolved.
“As I got older, I really have come to appreciate that association,” she said. “It makes me feel really proud.”
Rosie describes her father as “really unconventional as a person.”
This includes performing headstands when his patients being treated for addiction reach milestones in their sobriety, and occasionally sitting atop a dunk tank to give his patients turns at dropping him into a vat of water.
That focus of treating addiction, Jeffrey Solinas said, “is like curing cancer.”
“If you can help people get away from that and restart the motor on their more healthy life, you’ve saved not only that person’s life, but their parents, their siblings… it’s a big impact. that to me is very satisfying”
The clinic boasts roughly 20 staffers, many of whom have been there for at least 25 years.
“This is a family for the staff, but we try to take care of people the way we want to be taken care of,” Jeffrey Solinas said.
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Plazita Medical Clinic will celebrate its 40th anniversary at the clinic at 1150 Main St. on Nov. 2 from 12–4pm. It is open to the public.
