Thursday, December 20, 2007
Mountain Laurel Health Center To Be Built Near Health Department
Dec. 20, 2007
John M. Colmers, secretary of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, was in Garrett County yesterday for the groundbreaking of the Mountain Laurel Medical Center, a federally qualified health facility. The event was held at the construction site, located off Memorial Drive, Oakland, behind the Garrett County Health Department.
The Garrett County commissioners, joined by Mtn. Laurel’s chief executive officer Beth Little-Terry and her staff, welcomed numerous representatives of state and federal agencies, legislative leaders and their representatives, and other local officials to Oakland to help celebrate the event.
Mtn. Laurel Medical Center entered into a partnership with the Garrett County Community Action Committee to raise the money and build the $2.6 million facility. The contract to construct it has been awarded to general contractor Devlin Inc. of Deer Park.
Completion of the single story, 12,000 square-foot office building is scheduled for November 2008.
Mtn. Laurel Medical Center services, including primary and preventive health care, are currently being provided at 888 Memorial Drive. In addition to accepting insured patients, the center offers a discount program based on family size and income.
“This is made possible through a federal grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration,” said a center spokesperson. “The grant is intended to improve access to health care for uninsured and low income individuals in Garrett County and the surrounding area. Mountain Laurel Medical Center’s mission is to provide quality, safe, accessible primary health care, wellness promotion, and education to all individuals in Garrett County and surrounding areas, regardless of the patient’s ability to pay.”
In addition, the center offers case management services that link patients to other health, human services, and financial programs in the community such as medication assistance, transportation, and other services that may help improve the health of patients and their families.
“The proposed facility will serve as the medical office for a multi-provider health center as well as the administrative offices of the health center,” said the spokesperson. “The location of the facility off Memorial Drive is in an expanding medical service corridor, including Garrett County Memorial Hospital and numerous other health-related office facilities, and will offer added convenience for consumers of Mtn. Laurel Medical Center’s services.”
The spokesperson also noted that the building site is located near county, state, and non-profit agencies, as well as the Health Department, which will help expand partnerships between those entities that have been developed in recent years to provide needed services to area citizens.
“The construction of a first-class community health center such as this would not have been possible without the vision and leadership of the members of the board of the Western Maryland Healthcare Corporation and the Garrett County commissioners, who donated the land and in-kind services,” said the spokesperson.
About $1.2 million for the project is being provided by DHMH’s capital bond program. Additionally, $500,000 in federal grant funds are being provided through the Community Development Block Grant Program administered by the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development and received through the town of Oakland.
The remaining cost of the building will be provided through loans and grants from the several other funding sources, according to the spokesperson
Full article courtesy of The Republican
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