Round Lake Beach health center to expand

Mid-Lakes Health Center in Round Lake Beach will be expanded thanks to a $1.7 million grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The expansion will add exam rooms and one dental room, enlarge the waiting room and add space for behavioral health and nutrition counseling. The center is run by the Lake County Health Department.

The funds also will be used to purchase a new phone system for making appointments and new servers for the electronic health record system. Several pieces of clinical equipment also will be purchased.

Mid-Lakes Health Center, 224 W. Clarendon Drive in Round Lake Beach, is the only health center in western Lake County. The demand for services has been growing since the site opened in 2004.

Since then, annual medical visits have increased by 46 percent and annual dental visits have increased by 109 percent.

The Lake County Health Department hopes to begin the work in the fall, though no specific date has been set. The center will remain open during construction. Work will be complete by June 28, 2011, when the grant money expires.

The Lake County Health Department also has Community Health Centers in Waukegan, North Chicago, Highland Park and Zion.

This is the third grant the Lake County Department Health Department/Community Health Centers has received from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.