1:00 AM Officials say homeless patients will be able to get care at a nonprofit health center as a city clinic gradually scales back services starting next week.

By Kevin Miller kmiller@pressherald.com Staff Writer

Portland will begin scaling back operations at the citys Health Care for the Homeless program next week, but officials now say homeless residents receiving medical treatment from the city should not lose access to care during the transition to a nearby nonprofit health center.

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Because of recent staffing efforts by the Portland Community Health Center, all parties are more confident that what was once considered to be a potentially large gap in medical services to the homeless is not a significant issue, says Sheila Hill-Christian, Portlands deputy city manager.

John Patriquin/Staff Photographer

Because of recent staffing efforts by the Portland Community Health Center, all parties are more confident that what was once considered to be a potentially large gap in medical services to the homeless is not a significant issue, Sheila Hill-Christian, Portlands deputy city manager, wrote in a memo to the City Councils Public Safety, Health and Human Services Committee.

Committee members are scheduled to discuss the issue Tuesday evening with representatives from the city and the Portland Community Health Center, the nonprofit medical care provider that is expanding to serve homeless patients.

Portland officials learned earlier this year that the city would lose a federal grant that provides roughly one-third of the funding for the Health Care for the Homeless program, which serves roughly 2,300 individuals. As a result, city officials announced the programs clinics would close this year.

The federal government instead awarded the $680,000 grant to the Portland Community Health Center to provide medical care to the homeless. However, city officials and others raised concerns that the nonprofit would not have the capacity to serve all of the patients who get care at the city clinic.

More here:

Health care access preserved for Portlands homeless