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WARREN - Uninsured and under-insured residents of Trumbull County will have greater access to health care once a new facility opens in the spring at 1977 Niles Road S.E.

The health care center will be the fourth site operated by Ohio North East Health Systems Inc. and will be the second in Warren. The other sites are Youngstown Community Heath Center, 726 Wick Ave., Youngstown; Warren West Community Health Center, 716 Tod Ave. S.W., Warren; and Good Samaratin Community Health Center, 405 S. Linden Ave., Alliance.

Dr. Ronald Dwinnells, executive director and CEO of ONE Health Systems, said the nonprofit agency started in 1986 and opened its first site in Youngstown in 1994. The facility is 25,000 square feet, with 12,000 square feet being clinical space and the rest being used for corporate offices and meeting rooms.

By comparison, the new Warren facility is 30,000 square feet, and all of it will be clinical space since the company's headquarters will remain in Youngstown. Dwinnells said only 12,000 square feet will be used initially and will include nine medical examination rooms and six dental operatories featuring state-of-the-art digital equipment.

Eventually, obstetrics, gynecology and podiatry will be added to the Niles Road facility. Dwinnells said the larger space at the new site also will enable the company to bring in partner organizations to provide behavioral health, speech therapy and pharmacy services.

"The new Warren site eventually will be our largest facility, and we are hoping to draw patients from a wider area, including Niles, Howland, Weathersfield and even Mahoning County," Dwinnells said.

He said parking lot construction has been going on the past several weeks, and interior renovations will begin within the next month. He said renovations are expected to take about a month, and he is hoping to have the new clinic open by April.

Dwinnells would not reveal the planned name for the new community health center, but said it ties in with local history. It will be revealed next month.

He said the cost of the renovations and new equipment purchased for the Niles Road site is nearly $1 million, with approximately $880,000 being funded by federal stimulus money.

All of the community health centers operated by ONE Health Systems are 30 percent funded by a federal grant, with the rest coming from third-party billing. Because the agency uses federal tax dollars, services are rendered on a sliding scale fee to serve patients with no or inadequate health insurance.

''We are not a free clinic, which is a common misconception. However, we do serve many low-income patients,'' Dwinnells said Friday.

The decision to open a second Warren facility came because the need in the city is so great, he said.

''The unemployment rate is the highest in the state, and with unemployment comes loss of health care coverage,'' he said, noting that more than 80 percent of children in Warren City Schools come from families that are at or below federal poverty guidelines.

Dwinnells said only 6 percent of patients served at the Warren West Community Health Center come from the city's southeast sector even though it is less than 2 miles away. He said that is because there is limited mass transit in Warren compared to Youngstown, and he is hoping the new site's centralized location will help the agency reach more patients.

Beth Haddle, chief operating officer for ONE Health Systems, said another reason Warren was chosen is because of the number of collaborations that will be possible with other agencies such as LifeLines and Community Solutions.

The health center also will be the home of ONE Health Systems new mobile medical unit. The unit was built with help from a grant secured from U.S. Rep. Timothy Ryan, D-Niles, and will travel to each of the Warren City Schools at least once a week, enabling students and others in the community to obtain medical services.

This month Ryan presented Dwinnells a $216,000 check. The first-year budget for the mobile medical unit is estimated at $635,000, and the unit will include a waiting room and two examination areas.

Haddle said the agency also plans to purchase a mobile dental van to serve the schools.

mkosinski@tribtoday.com