WS Chronicle

Demanded by the community, governed by patients, United Health Centers cut the ribbon on its third facility in the Winston-Salem area on Saturday.

The new medical center is located on the side of Marketplace Mall at 2101 Peters Creek Parkway with its own entrance separate from the rest of the mall. The 15,000-square-foot facility will put medical, mental health and dental services under one roof. It accepts Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance and uninsured patients, who pay on a sliding scale.

City Council Member John Larson said it’s a needed service for the South Ward.

“Bringing health to the public, bringing it to where they are, is what this is about,” said Larson.

United Health Centers started its first location, Southside United Health Center on Waughtown Street, in 2003 after a variety of neighborhood organizations in the area asked for a medical clinic. After achieving Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) status, it opened a second location last year at SECU Commons on Felicity Lane.

Patients make up the majority on the governing boards at FQHCs, which focus on providing a variety of services for a holistic approach to health. They receive federal funds to help with operating costs and get higher reimbursement rates for Medicare and Medicaid, two government insurance programs that some providers refuse to accept because of their low regular reimbursement rates.

N.C. Community Health Center Association President Benjamin Money said that the health center model began in South Africa and was implemented in the states as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty in 1965. He said that FQHC funding in the Affordable Care Act is set to run out this year, but he had full confidence it would be renewed since health centers are a uniquely bipartisan issue.

“The health center program was the only program on record that was supported by, and championed really by, Senator Ted Kennedy and then also supported by Senator Jesse Helms,” said Money, referring to two late senators with polar opposite political views.

United Health Centers CEO LeShun Huntley said the new center currently has 45 employees and will be hiring more as it readies its new services, like dental care. He said it’s the dedicated staff that has made the centers a success. He said the rapid expansion is because there’s a need for the centers. About 70 percent of their patients are uninsured.

“When you see the need, you have a responsibility to react to that need,” said Huntley.

Huntley said he plans to open more centers in the years to come to address the growing healthcare needs in the community.

United Health Centers facility at Peters Creek Parkway is open from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday and can be reached at 336-955-1379

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