People in and around Sweet Home will soon have a new health care center, due to a $1.1 million dollar federal grant.
The two-year grant comes from Affordable Care Act funds, and will be used to expand an existing clinic. Sherlyn Dahl is Director of Community Health Centers for Benton and Linn Counties. She says it’s important for residents of rural areas to be able to easily find high-quality wrap-around services:
Dahl: “We hope that those folks that are living in that Sweet Home area will be able to access those primary care services and kind of have a one-stop shop if you will. We’re really looking at that integrated model of primary care, mental health, public health and dental services.”
Dahl says many people in Sweet Home travel to Lebanon or Corvallis for health care. The clinic will hire four to five new employees to start, including one primary care doctor. They hope to add a second physician the following year. Dahl says the goal is to be operational by early December.
