photo by: Nick Krug/Journal-World File Photo

In this file photo from September 2014, Dr. Ed Manda, right, and hygienist Holly Blick, left, examine a patient during the annual free dental day at the Douglas County Dental Clinic.

Two nonprofit community health organizations committed to offering care for residents regardless of their income or insurance status will soon merge.

The boards of directors for both the Heartland Community Health Center and Douglas County Dental Clinic unanimously approved the merger at the end of February and have signed an agreement. The dental clinic will merge its staff and dental-related assets into Heartland’s, and the groups expect the acquisition to be finalized in July.

Julie Branstrom, executive director of the dental clinic, said in the news release that the organization has been struggling to keep its services affordable.

“DCDC has done such an outstanding job over the years with its limited financial resources but we absolutely struggle with keeping our fees affordable to our uninsured patients who are living at or below the federal poverty level,” she said. “This merger will increase Heartland’s capacity to provide oral health services to more people and I’m thrilled that DCDC’s patients will soon have access to high quality integrated health care.”

In a phone call with the Journal-World, Branstrom said the organization has had to draw on its reserves in past years to pay for operations, a model that Branstrom said the clinic did not wish to continue. She also said that when the clinic merges with Heartland, the money in the clinic’s reserve will solely go to benefit dental operations at Heartland, so that past donations will be used for their original intended purpose.

Branstrom said both uninsured dental clinic patients and those on Medicaid and Medicare would see lowered rates after the merger. Heartland is a Federally Qualified Health Center and, as such, qualifies for federal funding and reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid.

Robyn Coventon, chief executive officer of Heartland, said in the release that the organizations looked forward to combining their strengths.

“The depth of services we will be able to provide as part of our integrated model only enhances the mission of both of our organizations; we will continue to emphasize access to quality, affordable, primary health care for all, with particular interest in addressing health disparities in our community,” she said.

No jobs at either organization were lost in the merger, Branstrom said. The dental clinic will for the time being continue to operate out of its current building at 2210 Yale Road, but expect to see signage and logos change to match Heartland’s.

In the future, however, the merging organizations will operate out of one building. As the Journal-World has previously reported, Heartland announced that it would take over the space occupied by Anderson Rentals at 1312 W. Sixth St. The target move-in date is the fall of 2021; those working out of the current dental clinic building will then move to the new location.