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Published on July 10, 2022 at 17:00 EDT

Vecinos has been providing health care to the Spanish-speaking community of western North Carolina for nearly 20 years. Now the predominantly mobile clinic is planning a new venture in Franklin. A “public health hub” is how Vecino CEO Marianne Martinez describes their new location planned in Macon County.

“Immediately after you turn off [Highway] 441, there’s a building on your right. It’s the old Smoky Mountain Systems Building,” Martinez explains.

Vecinos bought the 15,000-square-foot building for a new clinic in June.

The organization provides charitable care to the needy across the six westernmost counties with a focus on farm workers. The group already operates a clinic on the campus of Western Carolina University and has two mobile clinics.

“We need to open up our patient eligibility instead of being limited to employment. It really needs to be open to all low-income uninsured people in the six western counties,” Martinez said.

This is where the new community health hub comes into the picture. The location will house all types of services: the Blue Ridge Free Dental Clinic, which will continue to provide dental care at its Cashiers clinic and add four dental rooms at the Franklin location; the 30th Judicial District Violence-Sexual Assault Alliance at the Waynesville Home; El Centro Comunitario of Macon County, a Latin American community advocate group; and Asheville-based Pisgah Legal Services, which provides legal services to low-income people.

Both Vecinos and the Blue Ridge Free Dental Clinic are members of the North Carolina Association of Free and Charitable Clinics.

Martinez says the groups have been working together for years and now they all want to be in one place.

“It’s just a better form of caring for them to be able to seek the services and receive the services the moment they identify them, the moment they need them,” Martinez said.

The building for the new clinic was purchased for $ 1.6 million with a bridge loan from the Dogwood Health Trust. The coalition is now launching a campaign to raise $ 5.6 million for the building and renovation.

The new clinic will enable them to more than double the number of patients they currently serve. Martinez says that with the growing Latino population, there is a need for more consistent access to health care.

“There are a lot of people who need these services and not many organizations that offer them,” she said.

Martinez expects the Community Health Hub to open in early 2024.

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