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GREENSBORO — A county-run health care clinic in southeast Greensboro should start up by next summer, about six months later than first expected, according to the Guilford County Department of Public Health.

The clinic apparently will be in a shopping center that already has one of the area’s only private medical practices. The shopping center is in the 2000 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, just north of Business 40-85.

With a drugstore, a potential county clinic and a doctor’s office, the area would become a small center to treat the medical needs of an area of the county with high rates of cancer, heart disease and poverty.

Because of low mobility among many residents there, county commissioners made establishing a health clinic in southeast Greensboro a priority since hearing of the need early in the year.

Merle Green, Guilford County director of public health, said Monday that she hopes to present a lease agreement for the clinic to the Board of Commissioners for its approval in December.

“If that goes smoothly, we’ll be able to start ordering equipment,” she said. Earlier this year, Green said that she hoped the clinic could open by the end of 2008.

Until the clinic is running, the health department plans to seek grants from state and federal sources. The first estimate to open the center, $1 million, was funded with $250,000 in the 2008-09 county budget. An exact figure for annual operating costs has not been determined.

Green also plans a conference call with Moses Cone Hospital this week to discuss how the groups could work together.

Green is hopeful that some hospital staff might assist the few county employees expected to run the clinic full-time.

Operating costs would come from insurance co-payments or other payment methods that still need to be detailed, Green said. Guilford County pays for about 53 percent of the department’s $40 million annual budget, she said.

“We will definitely see our fair share of Medicaid and Medicare patients,” Green said, referring to government-subsidized medical insurance programs for the needy or elderly, adding that other payment options are in the works.

The neighborhood the clinic would target comprises the area in and around ZIP code 27406 north of Interstate 40, where the former L. Richardson Memorial Hospital served residents until it was sold in 1990.

“We’re going to provide primary care for adults and care for those with high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma and conditions such as that,” Green said.

Other local organizations, including a domestic violence support group and social services department staff, are also interested in providing services.

“There’s lots of potential once we get started, and we’re anxious to get started,” she said, adding that she’s had talks with groups, including Moses Cone officials.

But Moses Cone officials have been hesitant to publicly commit.

“We are still talking with the county, and beyond that there’s not a whole lot else to say,” said Doug Allred, spokesman for the hospital.

Contact Gerald Witt at 373-7008 or gerald.witt@news-record.com