Vecinos opens permanent health hub in Franklin
By Jose Sandoval, Lilly Knoepp
May 8, 2025 at 1:46 PM EDT
Vecinos, a non-profit free clinic and rural health center dedicated to serving uninsured and underinsured residents, has opened a new permanent location in Franklin.
The new Macon County community health hub will serve residents of Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Jackson, and Swain counties in Western North Carolina.
Present at this week’s opening ceremony were non-profit groups that will be part of the community hub, as well as local leaders, including Macon County Commissioner Gary Shields and Franklin Vice Mayor Stacy Guffey.
Guffey told BPR it’s important to have an affordable clinic to provide crucial services. He said he has lost family members because they couldn’t afford life-saving health care.
“ You try to work through the health care system the way it's set up, and it's difficult to help people who are uninsured or people who can't afford healthcare,” Guffey said. “....Maybe somebody else's aunt and uncle will be saved because they could get free services here at this health hub.”
Marianne Martinez, CEO of Vecinos, said the new facility has been four years in the making.
“ This space is more than just a building,” Martinez said. “It's a promise. A promise that no one's income, no one's background, no one's health insurance status should ever stand in the way of their health or their wellbeing. It's a promise that we are here not only to treat illness, but to build wellness together.”
The 16,000-square-feet facility will offer primary care, dental and behavioral health services. It will also house Pisgah Legal, Centro Communitario of Macon County, WNC Alliance, and Mountain Projects to provide legal service, tax preparation services, health insurance enrollment assistance and more.
A new mural is planned through a grant partnership between Vecinos, Hola Carolina and Unidxs WNC. The non-profits will soon ask the community for input.
More than $8 million was raised for the renovations through donations and local partnerships, according to Martinez. Martinez also serves on BPR's Board of Directors.
Vecinos staff on May 6 (1024x481, AR: 2.128898128898129)
Esperanza Dominguez has been a community health worker for Vecinos for four years. She told BPR that the new facility means people in the Latino community will have better access to health care.
“First, many people in the Latino community do not go to certain hospitals because there is the language barrier,” Dominguez told BPR in Spanish. “Second, there is the status barrier that they have in the country. Third, finding people who speak your language, have the same culture and customs as you.”
Across North Carolina, about 9% of residents are uninsured in 2023, and even more are underinsured. Those numbers are even higher in parts of Western North Carolina.
In Macon County, 19.5% of residents are uninsured, according to 2022 data from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIH).
2022 data of uninsured North Carolinians (1018x456, AR: 2.232456140350877)
Vecinos began seeing patients on opening day of the new facility. They expect to serve 2,000 patients in the health hub’s first year of operation and another 1,000 clients via social programs, dental, and medical health partnerships, according to a press release from Vecinos.
Dominguez believes those numbers will grow and that they will need another building in the future.
“It will increase now that we are here and making ourselves better known,” Dominguez said. “There are still many people who don't know Vecinos and don't know about our services.”
The new Macon County community health hub will serve residents of Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Jackson, and Swain counties in Western North Carolina.
Present at this week’s opening ceremony were non-profit groups that will be part of the community hub, as well as local leaders, including Macon County Commissioner Gary Shields and Franklin Vice Mayor Stacy Guffey.
Guffey told BPR it’s important to have an affordable clinic to provide crucial services. He said he has lost family members because they couldn’t afford life-saving health care.
“ You try to work through the health care system the way it's set up, and it's difficult to help people who are uninsured or people who can't afford healthcare,” Guffey said. “....Maybe somebody else's aunt and uncle will be saved because they could get free services here at this health hub.”
Marianne Martinez, CEO of Vecinos, said the new facility has been four years in the making.
“ This space is more than just a building,” Martinez said. “It's a promise. A promise that no one's income, no one's background, no one's health insurance status should ever stand in the way of their health or their wellbeing. It's a promise that we are here not only to treat illness, but to build wellness together.”
The 16,000-square-feet facility will offer primary care, dental and behavioral health services. It will also house Pisgah Legal, Centro Communitario of Macon County, WNC Alliance, and Mountain Projects to provide legal service, tax preparation services, health insurance enrollment assistance and more.
A new mural is planned through a grant partnership between Vecinos, Hola Carolina and Unidxs WNC. The non-profits will soon ask the community for input.
More than $8 million was raised for the renovations through donations and local partnerships, according to Martinez. Martinez also serves on BPR's Board of Directors.
Vecinos staff on May 6 (1024x481, AR: 2.128898128898129)
Esperanza Dominguez has been a community health worker for Vecinos for four years. She told BPR that the new facility means people in the Latino community will have better access to health care.
“First, many people in the Latino community do not go to certain hospitals because there is the language barrier,” Dominguez told BPR in Spanish. “Second, there is the status barrier that they have in the country. Third, finding people who speak your language, have the same culture and customs as you.”
Across North Carolina, about 9% of residents are uninsured in 2023, and even more are underinsured. Those numbers are even higher in parts of Western North Carolina.
In Macon County, 19.5% of residents are uninsured, according to 2022 data from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIH).
2022 data of uninsured North Carolinians (1018x456, AR: 2.232456140350877)
Vecinos began seeing patients on opening day of the new facility. They expect to serve 2,000 patients in the health hub’s first year of operation and another 1,000 clients via social programs, dental, and medical health partnerships, according to a press release from Vecinos.
Dominguez believes those numbers will grow and that they will need another building in the future.
“It will increase now that we are here and making ourselves better known,” Dominguez said. “There are still many people who don't know Vecinos and don't know about our services.”