The Lawrence community should step up and help a local health care agency take advantage of a significant opportunity to improve and expands its services.

Health Care Access provides health care to hundreds of area residents who don’t have health insurance. For those residents, the agency is a lifeline to help them deal with health issues, both minor and serious.

The high cost of health care and health insurance, coupled with the current difficult economy, have caused a predictable increase in demand for Health Care Access services. Last year, the agency provided $4 million worth of care for about 1,700 patients, an increase of 11 percent over the previous year.

Anyone who has even been to the Health Care Access clinic at 1920 Moodie Road can see that this agency knows how to stretch its dollars and do more with less. Now it’s time to help Health Care Access do more with more.

Agency officials have located a new building that will allow them to expand their services and provide better coordination with Lawrence Memorial Hospital. The former medical office building at 330 Maine is a little larger than the current facility and is right across the street from LMH, as well as being close to other agencies that provide health services to low-income residents. The location will facilitate use of some LMH support services and perhaps encourage additional physicians to volunteer time at Health Care Access.

As further incentive, the agency has received a $96,000 grant from the state that could be used for the project, but only if Health Care Access can raise a matching amount in donations by June 30. Obviously that date is fast approaching. They have $20,000 donated so far and need another $76,000 in direct or in-kind donations to meet their match,

This is a great opportunity for Health Care Access. The community should not let it slip away. In a perfect world, Lawrence would not need a service like Health Care Access, but in this economy, it needs it desperately. It’s time to repay the effort Health Care Access has put into our community by helping this grant and this new facility become a reality.