Four community health centers in Oregon have been awarded close to $4 million. The funds come from a federal program aimed at increasing health coverage.
The U.S. Department of Health is giving money to more than 260 community health centers around the nation.
In Oregon, that amounts to help for about 14,000 new patients in Corvallis, Portland, Medford and Enterprise.
Liz Towers is a family physician at the Winding Waters Medical Clinic in Enterprise. The clinic is receiving more than a million dollars. She said she’s both ecstatic and overwhelmed.
“So we’ve committed to doing quite a few things with these grant dollars," she said. "And it’s going to be quite a bit of work to roll it out. They say, no rest for the successful,” she said.
She said the money will be used to open a new school-based health center, and to offer a sliding fee schedule for dental visits, mental health visits and for transportation to medical appointments.
About 13 percent of clients at the clinic don’t have health insurance.
Copyright 2015 Oregon Public Broadcasting
