CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Mecklenburg County leaders voted Tuesday night to help keep a troubled health care center thousands of people use from going under. This step comes just one week after C.W. Williams Health Center declared it's out of money.
C.W. Williams has gone from being open six days a week to three and has only one physician on staff while it tries to get out of debt
People have been forced to turn to other healthcare providers because of the center's financial turmoil.
"I called and the phone was out of service or they don't pick up so I just stopped trying," said former client Tamika Walker.
Walker later found out the no answer she was getting may have been because the center is making no money. C.W. Williams Community Health Center filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week and owes 20 creditors $1.8 million, according to court records.
This year, county officials refused to give the center $390,000 in taxpayer money it had been getting for years unless it changed its operational ways.
"They wanted to do what they could to try to assist, but there had to be some indication that C.W. Williams wanted to help themselves," said Mecklenburg County Manager Dena Diorio.
County commissioners appointed Assistant County Manager Mark Foster to the center's Board of Directors to help navigate its financial issues.
That's one of five requirements the center has to meet to regain county funding. The others include providing the county financial statements and invoices of how it spent county money, a reorganization plan and a partnership with another nonprofit for financial support.
Diorio said the center has met about three of the five requirements to get county dollars again. Funding could be restored in June.
Eyewitness News tried calling the center's board chairperson to ask what happens if the center doesn't get the money, and still waiting for a call back.
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