Volunteer workers Fred McElhenie, left, and Larry Rankin remove some walls Monday during renovations to a building at 330 Maine, where Health Care Access plans to relocate from 1920 Moodie Road. The organization still needs to raise about 0,000 before moving into the new location.

Health Care Access still needs to raise about $80,000 before it can relocate its clinic into a bigger space.

The nonprofit agency provides medical care for uninsured Douglas County residents in its location at 1920 Moodie Road. The 3,200-square-foot building is too small for the growing demand of its services, leaders say.

Nikki King, executive director, said the wait for an appointment is between nine and 10 weeks. The clinic leaves six appointments open daily for acute care, and they are filled within the first 10 minutes of opening.

“About 10 to 15 people are turned away every day. They are told to try back tomorrow, and, unfortunately, some of those are resorting to the emergency room because they can’t wait another day and another day,” King said.

Last year, Health Care Access served 1,703 patients, an 11 percent increase from 2007, and provided $4 million worth of care.

In June, the clinic raised enough money to match a $96,000 state grant and secure a new location at 330 Maine. The 6,000-square-foot building will have 11 clinic rooms instead of its current six. It will have more room for volunteers, storage and to simply take care of patients.

“We have additional providers in the wings waiting for us to start practicing up there,” King said, adding that it will be more convenient for doctors being located across the street from Lawrence Memorial Hospital and near other practices and nonprofit health agencies.

Once the clinic relocates, Health Care Access plans to turn its current location into a wellness clinic that will provide health resources and classes on topics such as smoking cessation, healthy cooking, weight loss and depression.

“We’ve had leaders in the health community come in and weigh in on what this should look like in the future,” King said. “So, we are starting to gather input from both professionals as well as focus groups with our target audience as to what they would like to see there.”

Health Care Access recently received a five-year extension from the city of Lawrence, so the agency will continue to pay $1 per year to lease the building.

“Due to space crunches, we have not done any classes on site for a couple of years now. When we were functioning on three or four clinic rooms, we still had meeting space,” King said. “We are very excited to get back to that and give our patients more complementary services as well.”

King is hopeful that they can raise the rest of the money to buy the new location and renovate it by the end of September and then relocate by mid-October.

“That really relies on raising the rest of the money,” she said.

The relocation project is estimated to be about $350,000.

To donate money, call Health Care Access at 841-5760, ext. 209, stop by the clinic at 1920 Moodie Road or click here. There also are donation cards outside the new location at 330 Maine.