Health center set to open Friday
by JEFF SCHMERKER - Ravalli Republic
Uninsured and low-income residents of Ravalli County without a family doctor now have a new place to take their aches, pains and sniffles.
The Sapphire Community Health Center opens its doors Friday at 303 N. Third St. in Hamilton. Appointments are being taken at 363-5056.
“We still have quite a few appointments open for this Friday,” said Apryle Pickering, the clinic’s planning project coordinator.
The state and federal grant-funded health center targets residents making up to 200 percent of federal poverty standards.
The center is open Fridays only for now but will increase its schedule later.
The facility is staffed by an interim physician - soon to be a permanent nurse practitioner or physicians assistant - and has both on-site staff and support personnel from the Human Resource Council in Missoula. Support of the Human Resource Council is allowing the center to put as much funding as possible into patient services.
Patients who receive medical care are assessed a fee based on a sliding scale of how much they earn and how large their family is.
In the future, said Pickering, Sapphire Community Health Center will also handle dental and mental health needs and will be able to bill Medicaid and private insurance companies. For now, they offer referrals for those services and for patients needing to see specialists.
For now, said Jim Morton, executive director of the Human Resource Council in Missoula, the center is operating with about $835,000 in state Department of Public Health and Human Services, federal Health Resource Administration, and federal recovery Human Resource Council grant funds. That two-year funding, Morton said, is being used for startup costs and staff.
When that funding expires Morton said the center hopes to secure federal grants made to community health centers nationwide. By that time the center should also be able to bill for treatments to Medicaid and privately-insured individuals.
The clinic is governed by a local board.
“We are very excited and have already received a lot of very positive comments,” Morton said. “We feel fortunate to have this much positive support already.”
Pickering said that an estimated 24 percent of the population in Ravalli County lacks health insurance - and that means a big potential market for the health center.
“I think we’re going to be swamped,” she said.
While the center is now open just one day a week that will soon move to two or three days a week once a permanent physician is on staff, Pickering said.
“Our mission is to ensure access to quality primary care for the medically-underserved population of Ravalli County,” Pickering said. “We’re really excited to be open and serve the people of the community who were previously unable to afford health care.”
Morton agreed.
“There is a great need for this type of service in Ravalli County,” he said, “and we are excited to offer it.”
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Reporter Jeff Schmerker can be reached at 363-3300 or jeff.schmerker@ravallirepublic.com.
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