Santa Rosa Community Health Centers has received a $650,000 federal grant to fully staff a downtown medical clinic designed to serve the area's homeless population.
The clinic, located at the site of the shuttered Brookwood Homeless Shelter on the north east corner of Brookwood and Sonoma avenues, will offer primary care, dental and mental health and substance abuse services.
The site will also offer a multi-bed "respite center" that will be restricted to homeless adults recuperating from surgery or a serious illness.
Santa Rosa Community Health Centers is spearheading the project, in partnership with the Sonoma County Mental Health Division, Petaluma Health Center and West County Health Centers.
The three health centers had jointly applied for the $650,000 grant, though some feared the application would be rejected in light of the federal government's recent $600 million cut in health center spending.
"This grant provides the funds we need to move from a satellite clinic to a full clinic," said Dr. Michael Kozart, medical director of the Brookwood Health Center.
Kozart currently heads the Community Health Centers' A Street Clinic, located at the site of Catholic Charities' Family Support Center in downtown Santa Rosa. Catholic Charities will operate the respite beds at the new Brookwood clinic.
The A Street Clinic will continue to operate, though with reduced hours, said Kozart. The Brookwood site is expected to be up and running sometime in October, he said.
The project was initially launched with $240,000 in federal stimulus funds that will go toward capital improvements and the renovation of the Brookwood facility, said Naomi Fuchs, chief executive officer of Community Health Centers.
The $650,000 grant will fully staff the clinic and support services to people who are homeless, she said.
Staff Writer Martin Espinoza can be reached at 521-5213 or martin.espinoza@press democrat.com.
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