Spring Break
Coles County could get free health clinic
Joe Astrouski / City Editor
Issue date: 4/14/09 Section: News
A community health care organization could begin building a free clinic near Charleston soon.
The organization, Coles Community Health Program, would build the clinic to serve uninsured Coles County residents, according to the group's Web site.
The clinic would be built on the east side of Mattoon and would take up between 2,700 and 3,000 square feet, said Mike Murray, the organization's president.
"We'd like to start the building in the next six months," he said. "Approximately a year from now … we'd like to be open and functioning."
Murray said the organization, which formed in February 2006 as a consortium of community and health care organizations, has raised more than half of the funds needed to open the clinic.
"We've advanced our fundraising, which has now reached … about $360,000 out of the $600,000 we set as a goal," he said. "We have now put ourselves in position to receive federal stimulus funding."
Those stimulus funds could be worth between $300,000 and $350,000, Murray said.
He said the group has finished planning for the new clinic and is waiting for the remaining funds to begin construction.
"We are, essentially, a shovel-ready project," Murray said.
The model of clinic proposed by Coles Community Health Program is a Federally Qualified Health Center, according to the group's Web site.
These clinics typically provide physician services, nurse-practitioner services, diabetes services and some social services, according to information from the U.S Department of Health and Human Services Web site.
The new clinic would be allied with the Community Health Improvement Center in Decatur.
Joe Astrouski can be reached at 581-7942 or at jmastrouski@eiu.edu.
The organization, Coles Community Health Program, would build the clinic to serve uninsured Coles County residents, according to the group's Web site.
The clinic would be built on the east side of Mattoon and would take up between 2,700 and 3,000 square feet, said Mike Murray, the organization's president.
"We'd like to start the building in the next six months," he said. "Approximately a year from now … we'd like to be open and functioning."
Murray said the organization, which formed in February 2006 as a consortium of community and health care organizations, has raised more than half of the funds needed to open the clinic.
"We've advanced our fundraising, which has now reached … about $360,000 out of the $600,000 we set as a goal," he said. "We have now put ourselves in position to receive federal stimulus funding."
Those stimulus funds could be worth between $300,000 and $350,000, Murray said.
He said the group has finished planning for the new clinic and is waiting for the remaining funds to begin construction.
"We are, essentially, a shovel-ready project," Murray said.
The model of clinic proposed by Coles Community Health Program is a Federally Qualified Health Center, according to the group's Web site.
These clinics typically provide physician services, nurse-practitioner services, diabetes services and some social services, according to information from the U.S Department of Health and Human Services Web site.
The new clinic would be allied with the Community Health Improvement Center in Decatur.
Joe Astrouski can be reached at 581-7942 or at jmastrouski@eiu.edu.
The Daily Eastern News encourages on-topic, civil discussion on its articles posted online. It is our policy not to screen comments before they are posted or edit them after they are posted. However, we reserve the right to remove comments that are off-topic, malicious, libelous or include excessive foul language. The DEN also reserves the right to turn off all comments on any story it deems necessary.
Comments violating copyright law will also be removed.
Users who repeatedly violate this policy will be banned from commenting.
If you have any questions on our comment policy or wish to report a comment that you feel violates these standards, please e-mail a link to the article to our Online Editor at DENNews.com@gmail.com.
Be the first to comment on this story