Construction continues in space on the campus of Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community off North High Street in Harrisonburg.

But when the dust settles and patients walk in, Healthy Community Health Centers Park View Clinic will have vastly increased its ability to provide dental and other types of care, according to Lisa Bricker, executive director of the local nonprofit formerly known as Harrisonburg Community Health Center.

“From the day we open, we will double our access to dental service overnight,” Bricker said.

There will be six dental suites as part of the new clinic, which will also have 10 exam rooms, she said.

“This is a huge space,” Bricker said, calling it “a marked expansion.”

The current HCHC clinic located inside VMRC’s Park Gables has only one provider and three exam rooms, according to Bricker.

“It’s a delightful clinic, but it can only support one provider and with a really small waiting area,” she said.

The new clinic will have three providers and one of the 10 exam rooms will be dedicated for behavioral health with its own counselor, Bricker said.

Everyone is welcome at HCHC clinics, whether they are insured or not, according to Bricker. Roughly a fifth of the current Park View clinic’s patients are VMRC residents, she said.

Services such as the new clinic’s dental capacity are in “desperate” need by members of the community, Bricker said.

A recent needs survey found that dental services are the most in-demand offered by organizations such as HCHC, according to Bricker.

“It was the [largest] number of prevailing needs going unmet at this time,” she said.

The recent expansion of Medicaid in Virginia opened the door to medical coverage to those who previously could not afford it, Bricker said.

“Many individuals never had access to dental health insurance, received that insurance and they’re trying to access care, but the wait for care is far too long,” she said.

The new HCHC facility will also have its own entrance instead of patients having to walk into VMRC first to get in. During the pandemic, many of the clinic’s non-VMRC patients had to be sent to the HCHC clinic off Port Republic Road because of restricted access to the retirement facility for residents’ safety, she said.

“Instead of being inside Park Gables, we will have our own entryway and our own parking lot,” Bricker said. “It will work perfectly.”

HCHC rents the space from VMRC, she said. Harrisonburg-based contractor Nielsen Builders is doing the renovations for VMRC, Bricker said.

The clinic is slated to open in June as construction nears completion and orders for equipment are filled, she said.

“There is such a need for care on the north end of town,” Bricker said.