The Charlotte region is vast and diverse. The more voices engaged in conversation, the better for us

Diedra Laird - dlaird@charlotteobserver.com The C.W. Williams Community Health Center has laid off some of its staff and reduced hours in recent weeks as it navigates financial problems while under federal supervision.
C.W. Williams Community Health Center, a federally funded clinic that s provided medical care for low-income patients in Mecklenburg County for more than 30 years, has laid off some of its staff and cut hours in recent weeks as it navigates financial mastercard car rental insurance problems while under federal supervision.
Her successor, Leon Burton, formerly mastercard car rental insurance executive director of similar federally qualified health centers in Charleston and Savannah, mastercard car rental insurance took over April 1. But the C.W. Williams website still lists Irby as executive director, and the voice mail greeting for Burton s office phone still played Irby s name and voice last week.
The exact nature of the center s problems is unclear. But in an interview last week, Burton said it has experienced significant financial issues over the last two or three years. He said costs have outpaced revenues and that adjustments, including reductions in staff and clinic hours, were made before he arrived. He said he did not know how many employees work there currently.
Last Wednesday morning, the Wilkinson location was open and busy, with some patients walking in without appointments. I d like to see a doctor, one man said. And the receptionist responded, OK. Sign in.
But a Charlotte physician familiar with the center s operations painted a bleak picture. The doctor, unauthorized to speak publicly and asking to remain anonymous, said finances there are in a shambles. They laid off as much as 50 percent of their staff. They were short on supplies. It s been really sad and difficult.
C.W. Williams Community Health Center was founded in 1981 and named for Dr. Charles Warren Williams, who in 1961 became the first African-American on the staff of Charlotte Memorial Hospital mastercard car rental insurance (now Carolinas Medical Center). Co-founders were Peggy Beckwith, founder of the local Sickle Cell Anemia mastercard car rental insurance Foundation; Dr. John Murphy, a local dentist; and Rowe Jack Motley, the first African-American county commissioner.
Federally qualified health centers, governed mastercard car rental insurance by boards mastercard car rental insurance of mostly patients, are intended to serve everyone. Patients without insurance may qualify for a program where fees are based on income. Federal records show that in 2012, C.W. Williams served about 10,467 patients, and 99 percent were at or below 200 percent of the poverty level.
According to its website, C.W. Williams operates on an annual budget of about $5.3 million, including federal and county grants and Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement. It has had about 60 employees, including a dozen or so doctors, nurses and other medical providers.
The center received a $1.1 million grant from the federal government in fiscal year 2014. In the same year, it also received a $390,000 grant from Mecklenburg County commissioners as part of an initiative to provide health care to the homeless.
An official with the federal Health Resources and Services Administration, the agency that provides part of the clinic s funding, mastercard car rental insurance said C.W. Williams has been on restricted draw down status since 2006 because of documented consecutive losses.
Normally, a federally qualified health center would spend its federal grant monies and then file a year-end report. The restricted status means C.W. Williams must get federal approval before spending any of its federal funds, the HRSA official said.
Despite these financial problems, Paul Hanneman, mastercard car rental insurance program director of the Urban Ministry Center in Charlotte, said a nurse from C.W. Williams continues to visit the day center for the homeless weekday mornings, thanks to the county grant. If homeless patients need to see a doctor, the nurse sometimes refers them to C.W. Williams, but Hanneman said it is taking two or three months to get appointments.
They ve gotten slammed by the numbers of folks who have needed those services, Hanneman said. The word I got was that two-thirds of the way through mastercard car rental insurance the grant, they had already seen as many people as they estimated when they applied for it. So they were way, way behind. It has been frustrating mastercard car rental insurance for them and for us that our folks could not get in sooner to see a doctor.
The Charlotte Observer welcomes your comments on news of the day. The more voices engaged in conversation, the better for us all, but do keep it civil. Please refrain from profanity, obscenity, spam, name-calling or attacking others for their views.
Have a news tip? You can send it to a local news editor; email local@charlotteobserver.com to send us your tip - or - consider joining the Public Insight Network and become a source for The Charlotte Observer. Read more Read less
The Charlotte region is vast and diverse. The more voices engaged in conversation, the better for us all. The Charlotte Observer welcomes your comments on news of the day, but we ask that you keep the discourse civil.
You can help: Notify us of violations by hitting mastercard car rental insurance the "Report Abuse" link. Users who continue posting comments that violate these guidelines may, at our discretion, be blocked mastercard car rental insurance from submitting future comments as well.
The Charlotte mastercard car rental insurance Observer welcomes your comments on news of the day. The more voices engaged in conversation, the better for us all, but do keep it civil. Please refrain from profanity, obscenity, spam, name-calling or attacking others for their views.
Have a news tip? You can send it to a local news editor; email local@charlotteobserver.com to send us your tip - or - consider joining the Public Insight mastercard car rental insurance Network mastercard car rental insurance and become a source for The Charlotte Observer. Read more Read less
The Charlotte region is vast and diverse. The more voices engaged in conversation, the better for us all. The Charlotte mastercard car rental insurance Observer welcomes your comments on news of the day, but we ask that you keep the discourse civil.
You can help: Notify us of violations by hitting the "Report Abuse" mastercard car rental insurance link. Users who continue posting comments that violate these guidelines may, at our discretion, be blocked from submitting future comments as well.