PAXTON — Hoopeston Community Memorial Hospital's chief executive officer said Friday that the hospital is "trying to look at all avenues" for partnering with area agencies and businesses to operate a planned community health center in Paxton.

And one of those possible partnerships is with Gibson Area Hospital, which already operates a health clinic and ambulance garage in Paxton.

"We've been trying to get a meeting with Gibson Area Hospital," said Harry Brockus, the Hoopeston hospital's CEO. Brockus said he wants to meet with Gibson Area officials to see "how we could potentially work together to improve the access to health care" in the Paxton area.

Brockus said in July that within two years the Hoopeston hospital hopes to open a federally qualified health center in an 80-year-old building it bought in April at 651 E. Pells St, Paxton.

The health center — expected to be called the Paxton Family Clinic and Ambulatory Services Center — would employ 43 people and provide a range of outpatient services, including family practice, nursing care, advanced imaging, on-site laboratory services and pre- and post-natal care. It would also include an "urgent care center" and an ambulance service.

An Federally Qualified Health Center, commonly referred to as a community health clinic, is a nonprofit, community-directed outpatient health-care provider serving low-income and medically under-served communities.

Community clinics are generally located in communities that lack hospitals but have high elderly populations, Brockus said. The facilities are designed to provide less-costly care for Medicare patients, whose deductible co-pays are waived at those facilities.

Rob Schmitt, chief executive officer for Gibson Area Hospital, declined Friday to discuss whether his hospital is interested in a partnership, saying only that he has "no comment at this time."

The health center would offer some of the same services as Gibson Area Hospital's Paxton Clinic and the GAH Ambulance Service that is also operated out of Paxton.

But Brockus said in July that he does not see the health center as a "form of competition." He noted that the Paxton Clinic "can't do all the things we're talking about doing at a Federally Qualified Health Center, so I think we'll actually be a supplement to that facility."

Brockus said Friday he has also been in discussions with several other "community partners ... that want to work with us," ranging from pharmacists in Paxton to the local Community Resource & Counseling Center, which provides mental health care treatment.

As required of community clinics, there must be a pharmacy, a dentist and mental health workers on site. Brockus said in July that the hospital hopes to sign contracts with agencies and businesses to provide those services.

Brockus said he has discussed the plan with the Ford-Iroquois Public Health Department Board. Brockus said Hoopeston hospital officials also plan to meet with the Paxton City Council to inform them of their plans once finalized and get the council's support.

The Hoopeston hospital plans to apply for the Paxton facility to be federally approved, which would make the facility eligible for grants of $650,000 a year to support its operation, Brockus said. Grants and "guaranteed loans" would also be made available to cover an estimated $6 million to $8 million in renovations to the aging building.

Without the grants and loans, Brockus said, the health center will not be possible.

Brockus said Friday that his hospital plans to start some renovations to the building this winter, including the replacement of "the entire electrical systems, air conditioning systems, plumbing and pipes." The building had served as a hospital for 60 years prior to its closure in 1987.

Meanwhile, Carle Foundation Hospital is in the process of acquiring all the primary-care facilities of the Hoopeston Regional Health Center, including the Hoopeston Community Memorial Hospital and three of its clinics. In July, Brockus would not rule out the possibility that the Paxton building could eventually be acquired by Carle.