An Illinois healthcare network is using federal stimulus money to build a new dental clinic for underserved patients in a Chicago suburb, the Southtown Star newspaper reported.
Aunt Martha's Healthcare Network is constructing nine dental offices at the Women's Health Center in Chicago Heights at a cost of $500,000 to $600,000, the newspaper said.
It reported that the clinic will include five X-ray machines, waiting and reception areas, a medical records room, a break room, four new social services offices, and a conference room, giving it capacity to treat 3,200 patients in its first year.
The dental clinic will be connected to the existing social services area so patients can walk between the two facilities, although each will have a separate entrance, the newspaper said.
It reported that the source of funding was the federal stimulus package combined with an $180,000 grant secured by U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL).
The health network expects to begin construction this month and complete it by the end of April, according to the Star.
