HAGERSTOWN - The Walnut Street Community Health Center has undergone some major transitions this year, and the facility's staff invited the community to see the changes for themselves Wednesday.
The center provides care for people who participate in federal Medicare and Medicaid programs or who have no insurance, as well as those who have private insurance. To accommodate its expanding dental practice, the center has added two dental examining rooms. And rather than having separate waiting rooms for its dental and family medical care divisions, the center has created a new shared reception area.
But the changes aren't all physical. Medical Director G. Johnson Koilpillai said the center added a mental health program in May. A state grant will pay for the program for three years, he said, and plans call for the program to be self-sufficient after that. So far, the program has one full-time social worker and a nurse practitioner who will come to the center once a week to manage medications. Koilpillai hopes to add another therapist next year and to expand the nurse practitioner's hours. A third therapist might be needed in the following year, he said.
