A $10 million 40,000-square-foot community health center for Benton Harbor is moving ahead. Ground breaks on the site at M-189 and Empire Avenue on Aug. 12.
The Bangor-based InterCare received a federal grant of $8.5 million in stimulus funding to help make the health center possible. A USDA Rural Health Facilities Loan also will help get the health center up and running. Out of 600 applicants, InterCare is one of only two health care centers in Michigan and one of 85 nationwide to receive stimulus funds.
InterCare is a federally-funded nonprofit and serves community residents and migrant farm workers.
The center is expected to generate jobs for three new medical providers, at least two new dental providers, and mental health professionals. Patient support jobs will also be created.
The new health center will replace its two existing Benton Harbor clinics with a new outpatient facility. The new site will help InterCare respond to the demand for services, which is projected to increase 35 percent over the course of the next few years. InterCare has been serving residents out of an old hospital constructed in 1907.
It expects to create up to 50 construction jobs and many additional health care jobs. Velma Hendershott, president and CEO of Intercare Community Health Network, described the anticipated improvements in a tele-town hall meeting in celebration of National Health Center Week. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Administrator Mary Wakefield, Ph.D., addressed the the tele-town hall meeting.
InterCare community health network is part of a National Primary Care Safety net that serves more than 16 million people in 3,000 health centers every year.
InterCare has provided the medically underserved in Southwest Michigan for over 36 years.
The organization administers the fourth largest WIC program in Michigan. InterCare is a member of the National Association of community health centers and of the Michigan Primary Care Association, working together to achieve expanded access with an outstanding model of high quality health care for those in need.
Writer: Kathy Jennings
Source: Velma Hendershott, president & CEO InterCare Community Health Network
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