Christ Community Health Services will open a new health center in Raleigh with a $650,000 federal grant announced Tuesday.
The Department of Health and Human Services awarded the ?new access point? grant to Christ Community as part of $101 million delivered through the federal Affordable Care Act for 164 new health center sites in 33 states and two U.S. territories.
With the first-year funding, Christ Community will expand to Raleigh with a health center located in a shopping center on Austin Peay near Yale. It will be housed in about 15,000-square-feet formerly occupied by an AJ Wright store, across from the Raleigh Springs Mall, said Shantell Leatherwood, chief administrative officer for Christ Community.
"Our plan is to open an 18-exam room primary care facility that would include oral health, and we're considering a number of different partnerships in that area," Leatherwood said.
Potential partnerships include with the Shelby County Health Department and a fitness center, she said.Christ Community anticipates serving about 7,800 patients in the first year for the Raleigh center. Its first-year staff would total about 32 full-time-equivalent jobs.
While no date for opening has been set, late fall is a hopeful estimate, according to Christ Community spokeswoman Cris Stovall.
The new grant is in addition to about $3.6 million in federal grants Christ Community receives each year.