Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Dental clinic work begins next month

By CATHERINE E. SHOICHET
Published January 15, 2007

LECANTO - Crews will start work next month on a $720,000 project to build a new dental clinic at the former Brown Schools site.

Officials said it will be a perfect companion to the existing Veterans Affairs clinic and community center there - planned as a place for "one-stop shopping" for social services in Citrus.

The 4,500-square-foot George A. Dame Community Health Center and Dental Clinic will be in a wing at the southwest end of the facility, community services director Brad Thorpe said Friday.

It will include eight dental operatories, two dental hygienist rooms and a small medical clinic for primary medical care, he said.

The Citrus County Health Department will run the clinic, which will primarily serve Medicaid recipients and low-income residents.

Thorpe said the clinic will help fill a critical health void in the county.

County officials have previously noted that Citrus does not have enough dental care facilities for low-income residents. And VA officials have cited dental care as an area of deficiency for veterans across the country, Thorpe said.

"I'm sure it will be packed," he said.

Construction will take about five months, with the clinic scheduled to open in June or July.

Crews will construct a new entrance for the clinic, Thorpe said, but the other construction work mainly involves interior remodeling.

Just west of County Road 491 and north of CR 486, the building of almost 61,000 square feet opened as a psychiatric hospital in 1990. The Brown Schools moved in after the hospital closed, serving as a residential facility for troubled youths.

Brown ceased operations in 2002. For several years, the building was vacant.

In March 2004, commissioners entered into an almost $4-million contract to buy the building, contingent on the VA's willingness to use it.

The VA Lecanto Community Based Outpatient Clinic opened in one side of the building in November 2005.

Community support services - including veterans, social and senior care services; the Nature Coast Volunteer Center; and the Central Citrus Community Center - began moving into the building in March.

The facility has become so popular that the county is planning to add 50 parking spaces, Thorpe said.

"It's exceeded our expectations," he said.

[Last modified January 14, 2007, 21:09:21]