Health center awaits news on funding

Kathie Powell, executive director for the Petaluma Health Center, finds herself checking her e-mail every 15 minutes these days.

Powell is waiting to find out if the health center will receive the $8.9 million it requested in federal stimulus money that would be the main funding source to purchase and renovate a 53,000-square-foot building at 1179 N. McDowell Blvd.

“We were told that we would find out by Nov. 1, so I’m pulling my hair out,” she said. “I called the person in charge, and she said, ‘Well, we’re still on schedule to make an announcement around Nov. 1.’

“I said, ‘But Nov. 1 has already passed.’ She then said, “It’s still around Nov. 1,’ and added that an announcement was imminent.”

But as Powell realizes, “imminent” could in reality be as vague as “around,” so it’s been difficult for her to wait, with such an important matter at stake.

“The closing date for purchasing the building is Dec. 1,” she said.

The health center applied for the $8.9 million Facility Improvement Program grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Before applying for the grant, Powell was told that projects such as theirs that are “shovel ready” (ready to begin right away) would be given priority.

She also feels that the high demand for primary-care services in Petaluma, coupled with the health center’s cramped quarters, will boost its chances of receiving the funding.

“We have been doing some analyses of the space that we have available, and have found that for every function our providers perform, we should have three times the space we currently have,” Powell said.

The health center’s current building, at 1301 Southpoint Blvd., has 15,000 square feet of space. Powell has said that the health center currently needs about 22,000 to 25,000 feet to meet the needs of its ever-increasing number of patients, which now total around 68,500 per year.

The building on North McDowell Boulevard would enable the health center to increase its annual patient load to 108,000 in 2013, and provide enough growth room through 2020, Powell said.

Other funding sources will be necessary for the health center to reach the $15 million required to purchase and renovate the building. Powell is hoping that $5 million will come in bonds from UnitedHealthCare and $500,000 from Congressional funding. Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey helped to secure House approval of the money for the PHC so that it can renovate its new home.

“I’ve been given every indication that the $5 million in bonds will be approved,” Powell said. “And when the federal budget is approved, I expect that we will obtain the $500,000. It would be very unusual for something like that to be cut.”

The Petaluma Health Care District has agreed to provide a $1 million loan if all the other funding is obtained.

Powell hopes that the building will be purchased this month, renovations will begin around Jan. 1 and the building will open in October.

(Contact Dan Johnson at dan.johnson@arguscourier.com)