WARREN Forum Health gets grant to expand clinic

The center was awarded a federal grant to help area residents.
By JENNINE ZELEZNIK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- For the 12,000 city residents without adequate health care, Forum Health will soon be providing relief.
Forum Health will use a $600,000 federal grant to expand the services of the Warren West Health Center into a full community health center in the coming year.
"This will work to eliminate health-care disparity by providing convenient access points and quality services," said Dr. Ronald Dwinnells, executive director and CEO of the Youngstown Community Health Center.
Services planned: The Warren center will become a satellite of YCHC and will provide needed dental and mental-health care, as well as expanded pediatric and primary health care, officials with the program said.
The project will begin in September with the hiring of support staff, and by midfall to early winter, full-time pediatric care will be offered, Dr. Dwinnells said. Pediatric care is offered one day per week now.
The expanded facilities include an additional location, tentatively planned for the Rite Aid building at Tod Avenue and Palmyra Road.
Officials hope to be moved in within a year.
The federal grant will provide about half of the estimated $1.1 million operating budget expected of the facility. The additional funds will come from service revenue, said Kris Hoce, president and CEO of Forum Health.
Patients are billed based on income and the number of people in their households, Dr. Dwinnells said.
Because it will be considered a community health center by the federal government, more than half of the center's governing board must consist of patients, Hoce said.
The same arrangement is in place in Youngstown, he added, and is working well.
The site of the Warren West Health Center, at 1230 Palmyra Road, will remain and the services provided there will continue, Hoce said.