An increasingly popular health care provider in downtown Provo is looking for a new home.

The Mountainlands Community Health Center is losing its lease at the corner of 100 North and 200 West as developers prepare to build a new convention center on nearly 2.5 acres of property there. The new convention center will be located on the blocks between 200 West and 300 West, Center Street and 100 North.

"We're hoping that our services will be continued without any hesitation or delay," said the center's development director, Lori Wright.

The center serves 11,000 people, 75 percent of whom don't have health insurance, and 33 percent of whom are children.

Wright said they have an offer from Utah County to relocate at the old county health building on 900 East and State Street. That building is currently out to bid on a complete renovation that should be complete by spring next year.

"They said they needed somewhere to go, and we said, 'Hey, we have an empty building,' " Commissioner Steve White said.

Commissioners are offering the space at the same cost per square foot that the center is paying now, though the space is much larger. That's OK with Wright, as the center has increased its operating hours and number of medical providers repeatedly since opening in 1992 to keep up with demands. The current location is out of room to expand.

"It limits our ability to see our patients," she said.

Though many of those patients don't have insurance, they are asked to pay a $25 fee that covers about 47 percent of the total cost of running the center. Other sources of revenue include grants from various governments and private groups. Treatment also includes health education for those with diabetes and other long-term ailments such as cardiovascular disease.

Wright said they expect to move in May of 2010.

Related

• Sr. Services joins County Health Dept.
• Mountainland Headstart free preschool
• Mountainlands clinic wins $20,000 grant for health education
• Health fair aims to inform growing uninsured